Over 4000 SC/ST/OBC Faculty Positions Lying Empty in Central Varsities: Inclusive Education a Distant Dream?

Jaipur- In a letter addressed to the Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), Dr. Ambedkar Anusuchit Jati Adhikari-Karmchari Association (AJAK) President SriRam Chordia, has drawn urgent attention to the chronic under-representation of Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the teaching faculty of India’s 56 central universities.

The organization cites official figures provided by the Ministry of Education in Parliament (aligned with data presented around mid-2025), which reveal that approximately 4,000 reserved posts at the levels of Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor remain vacant for years, seriously undermining the principles of social justice and inclusive higher education.

Across all three faculty cadres, the total number of sanctioned teaching posts stands at 18,951. Of these, only 14,062 positions have been filled so far, leaving nearly 4,889 posts vacant overall. However, the vacancies are disproportionately concentrated in the reserved categories. In the Professor cadre, the most senior academic level, there are 2,537 sanctioned posts in total. Out of these, the General category accounts for 1,538 sanctioned posts, of which 1,157 have been filled, resulting in a relatively moderate vacancy rate.

In sharp contrast, the SC category has only 308 sanctioned posts, of which just 111 are filled, leaving 197 vacant, equivalent to roughly 64% of the SC quota remaining empty. The situation is even more alarming for ST: out of 144 sanctioned posts, only 24 are occupied, meaning 120 positions (approximately 83%) lie vacant. For OBC, 423 posts are sanctioned but only 84 filled, resulting in about 80% of the quota unfilled at this level.

The Associate Professor cadre presents a similarly worrying picture. A total of 5,105 posts are sanctioned, with the General category holding 3,013 of them and 2,533 filled. For SC, 632 posts are sanctioned but only 308 filled (around 51% vacant); for ST, 307 sanctioned posts see just 108 filled (roughly 65% vacant); and for OBC, out of 883 sanctioned posts, merely 275 are occupied (approximately 69% vacancy).

While the entry-level Assistant Professor cadre shows relatively better filling rates with 11,309 sanctioned posts overall, 1,370 SC posts of which 1,180 are filled (only about 14% vacant), 704 ST posts of which 595 are filled (about 15% vacant), and 2,382 OBC posts of which 1,838 are filled (about 23% vacant), the stark drop-off in representation at higher academic ranks remains a glaring structural issue.

These figures highlight a systemic pattern: reserved category posts are filled at far lower rates in senior positions compared to the General category, despite the availability of qualified candidates from these communities being repeatedly affirmed in various official statements and advocacy efforts. The prolonged vacancies, especially the near-total absence of SC and ST representation at the Professor level, directly contradict the constitutional commitment to equality of opportunity and social justice. They also adversely affect the diversity of academic leadership, the quality and perspective of research output, the mentoring of students from marginalized backgrounds, and the overall inclusive character of central universities.

The Ajak letter emphasizes that many institutions have not issued advertisements for backlog posts in years, nor have they conducted special recruitment drives, even though UGC regulations and government reservation policy explicitly require proactive measures to fill these positions. The organization has therefore demanded that the UGC immediately issue clear directives for launching special recruitment drives with fixed timelines, establish regular monitoring mechanisms, enforce strict compliance with reservation norms, and hold accountable those universities that continue to delay the process.