46% teachers' post lie vacant in Sanskrit institutions

Over 46% posts of Sanskrit teachers are lying vacant in country's higher education institutions offering various courses in the Vedic language, the government on Monday told the Lok Sabha.

Delhi-based Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth and the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth in Tirupati—three deemed-to-be-universities which are proposed to be accorded central university status soon—are also facing shortage of teachers ranging from 31% to 36%.

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, while replying to a question in the Lower House on the shortage of Sanskrit teachers, said a special drive has been launched to fill up all the vacant posts of Sanskrit teachers in the higher education institutions at the earliest.

While a total of 120 universities and 1000 traditional Sanskrit colleges affiliated to these universities are currently offering various courses in Vedic language to at least 10 lakh students across the country, as many as 809 regular posts of Sanskrit teachers are lying vacant in these institutions against the total sanctioned strength of 1,748.

“The shortage of regular teachers is met by engaging guest / part‐time faculty till the posts are filled on a regular basis. The government has launched a special drive to fill up vacancies in academic posts in all academic institutions,” HRD minister told Lok Sabha

The question on the shortage of Sanskrit teachers in the country's higher education institutions was asked by Rahul Kaswan, BJP MP from Churu Lok Sabha constituency in Rajasthan.

“The (Lok Sabha) member's concern is obvious. Sanskrit is 'devavani' and a scientific language. The entire world needs it. Therefore the government has a clear intention to further strengthen Sanskrit and all other Indian languages,” Nishank said.

A total of 89 posts of teachers are lying vacant in the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan against the sanctioned strength of 288 teachers, 50 posts are lying vacant in Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth against the sanctioned strength of 139 and 38 teaching posts are vacant in Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth against the sanctioned strength of 109.

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has certified these Sanskrit institutions as grade 'A' institutions under the deemed-to-be-university category.

“Instructions have been issued to fill up all vacancies in these institutions on a war footing,” Nishank told the Lok Sabha.