Page 24 - EW-January-2026

Education News

— whether of government or private turers to regularly call
schools — for election duty inter- strikes for equal pay and
rupts the education of millions of regularisation of terms of
children. Education is a fundamental service. Currently, there
right of all children. Despite this are around 10,000 guest
and clear directions of the Supreme lecturers employed in
Court and the Bombay high court, the state’s public colleges
district collectors and state and local and universities.
government officials are sending no- Unsurprisingly, de-
tices to teachers to report for election ploying under-qualified
duty. Teachers’ organisations are cit- guest faculty to teach in
ing previous court judgements, but higher education insti-
they are nevertheless being threat- tutions (HEIs) and para
ened with criminal cases filed against teachers (usually class
them. The police too are harassing Siddaramaiah (centre): social sector axe X-XII school-leavers) in
teachers despite clear direction of the schools has resulted in
courts,” says S.C. Kedia, secretary, its five guarantee schemes in the 30 poor learning outcomes in the public
Unaided Schools Forum. months past. education system. For several decades
Ranged against bureaucrats who With no effort being made to re- the Annual Status of Education Re-
aren’t aware of court judgements, duce runaway establishment expen- port (ASER) published by the inde-
several teachers who did not attend diture, the axe has fallen on the social pendent Pratham Education Founda-
election training sessions after re- sector, especially education. In the tion, has been reporting that class V
ceiving notice, have briefed lawyers winter legislative session held last children in rural — especially govern-
to file writ petitions against the state month in Belagavi, chief minister Sid- ment — primaries can’t read class II
government. daramaiah acknowledged that 14,677 textbooks. And several studies report
Dipta Joshi (Mumbai) faculty positions are vacant in Kar- that 75-85 percent of HEI graduates
nataka’s 37 public universities. The are unemployable. Karnataka is not
KARNATAKA University of Agricultural Sciences, an exception.
Freebies opportunity Bengaluru, tops the list with 2,817 omments Chetan Singai, Pro-
unfilled faculty vacancies, followed by Cfessor and Dean at the School
cost Karnatak University, Dharwad, with of Law, Governance & Public Policy
at the privately promoted Chanakya
1,263. Likewise, the public primary-
secondary school system is plagued by University, Bengaluru: “When uni-
wo and a half years after the huge teacher shortages. An estimated versities run on ad-hoc staffing, stu-
Congress party, which was 45,500 teachers’ posts are vacant in dents lose continuity, first-generation
Tvoted to power in the 2023 41,088 government primary schools. learners lose support, and research is
legislative election, has been faith- To tide over these teacher shortag- given rock-bottom priority. Such is-
fully implementing its poll promise es, the state government has resorted sues deepen inequalities between state
of ‘five guarantees’ — 200 units to appointing ‘guest’ faculty in state government universities in particular,
of free power for every applicant government colleges/universities and and better-resourced private HEIs
household, 10 kg rice per person in para teachers in public schools at sig- and is a major cause of India’s poor
below poverty line (BPL) households, nificantly lower remuneration. research and innovation record. Fill-
free-of-charge travel for women in For instance, a guest lecturer in a ing faculty positions is quality reform,
government buses, Rs.2,000 per state government university is paid not a routine administrative act. It is
month for women heads of family Rs.24,000-36,000 per month cf. foundational to outcomes, trust, and
and Rs.3,000 for unemployed gradu- Rs.57,000-68,000 for tenured per- the future of the government higher
ates — the disastrous fallout of these manent faculty. Moreover, most guest education system.”
handouts, aka freebies, on the state’s lecturers don’t meet eligibility criteria Prof. A.S. Seetharamu, former
finances have become glaringly evi- stipulated by the University Grants professor of education, Institute of So-
dent. The state’s revenue deficit has Commission (UGC) such as clear- cial & Economic Change, Bengaluru,
ballooned from Rs.4,000 crore in ance of KSET/NET exams and Ph D attributes the huge faculty shortages
2023-24 to Rs.27,000 crore in 2024- qualifications. This huge pay dispar- in the state’s 37 public universities to
25. On September 8, Chief Minis- ity between tenured and guest faculty an “unwise decision” made in 2022
ter Siddaramaiah confirmed that — some of the latter teaching for over by the previous BJP government to
Rs.97,813 crore has been spent on a decade — has prompted guest lec- promote one public university in all

24 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2026