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India can simultaneously have more than one crore teachers and nearly 10 lakh vacant sanctioned posts because the two numbers measure different things.
Despite the overall improvement in teacher availability, 1,00,843 schools still had only one teacher in 2025-26. (AI Image)
India’s school education system has crossed a major milestone: the country now has more than 1.02 crore teachers. Yet the increase in the overall teaching workforce has not eliminated teacher shortages. In many schools, the problem is no longer simply about how many teachers India has, but where they are posted, what subjects they can teach and whether they are available at the levels where they are most needed.
The latest UDISE+ 2025-26 data puts India’s total school-teacher strength at 1,02,73,020, up from 94,83,294 in 2022-23 — an increase of about 8.3%. The overall pupil-teacher ratio has also improved, standing at 10:1 at the foundational stage, 12:1 at the preparatory stage, 17:1 at the middle stage and 21:1 at the secondary stage. The overall PTR is 24:1, below the 30:1 benchmark recommended under NEP 2020.
On paper, therefore, India appears to be moving towards a better-staffed school system. But the vacancy numbers tell another story.
Nearly 10 Lakh Sanctioned Posts Vacant
Data cited from the 2024-25 school education framework showed 69,85,760 sanctioned teaching posts against 9,82,662 vacancies, that is, roughly one in every seven sanctioned posts. Of these, around 5.72 lakh vacancies were at the elementary level, while more than 4.09 lakh were at the secondary level.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education has also flagged around 10 lakh vacant school-teacher posts and raised concerns over the absence of a permanent recruitment policy in some cases. It recommended filling vacancies through permanent recruitment and reducing dependence on contractual appointments.
What this means?
India can simultaneously have more than one crore teachers and nearly 10 lakh vacant sanctioned posts because the two numbers measure different things. The total teacher count represents teachers actually working across the school system, while vacancies refer to sanctioned positions that remain unfilled. Recruitment, retirement, creation of new posts, rationalisation and changes in student enrolment all affect the vacancy position. The Union Education Ministry has also clarified that recruitment and deployment are primarily handled by state governments and UT administrations.
The latest TISS State of Teachers, Teaching and Teacher Education for India (SoTTTER) 2025 findings make the mismatch clearer.
Across schools surveyed in 10 states, 35% reported shortages of mathematics and science teachers, while 31% reported shortages in English and 30% in regional languages. More strikingly, only 51% of mathematics teachers surveyed had studied mathematics at the undergraduate level.
That means the problem cannot be measured simply by asking whether a school has a teacher standing in front of a classroom. A school may technically meet its teacher requirement while still struggling to find a teacher with the right subject background.
The same issue has appeared in an earlier TISS research. The 2023 SoTTTER study found that only 46% of primary-school teachers in its survey had the D.El.Ed or equivalent professional qualification specifically associated with elementary teaching, even though around 90% had some form of professional qualification. The finding does not mean 54% of all Indian primary teachers are unqualified; it highlights a mismatch between the qualification teachers hold and the preparation specifically designed for the stage at which they teach.
The NITI Aayog report School Education System in India: Temporal Analysis and Policy Roadmap for Quality Enhancement notes that rural and underserved regions face teacher attrition and regional disparities that can affect learning outcomes, retention and transition rates. Its analysis of 2024-25 data also shows that India’s pupil-teacher ratios vary substantially by stage and state.
The problem is also visible at school level. Despite the overall improvement in teacher availability, 1,00,843 schools still had only one teacher in 2025-26. That was down from 1,04,125 in 2024-25, but the number remains significant.
The NITI Aayog report further found that more than one-third of schools had fewer than 50 students, including about 5.1% with fewer than 10 students and another 8% with 11–20 students.
Even where teachers are present, staffing numbers alone cannot tell us how effectively teaching is happening.
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Ask News18India’s school system has over 1.02 crore teachers, but shortages persist due to issues with teacher posting, subject specialization, and availability at specific educational levels. While the total teacher count is high, nearly 10 lakh sanctioned posts remain vacant, indicating a mismatch between available teachers and required positions.
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September 09, 2026, 12:17 IST
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