22 posts of VC vacant in Central varsities: Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

 Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan during a Rajya Sabha Session

As many as 22 posts of Vice-Chancellors are vacant in Central Universities, the Education Ministry said on Thursday during a Rajya Sabha Session. Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, said that a “total 22 posts of Vice-Chancellors in Central Universities under this Ministry are vacant out of which appointments to 12 posts have already been finalized by the Visitor”.

“The incidence and filling up of vacancies of Vice-Chancellors in Universities is a continuous process. The process of appointment of Vice-Chancellor in Central University is a time-consuming exercise which involves getting Executive Council/ Court’s nomination(s) of the concerned Central University, the constitution of Search-cum-Selection Committee, advertisement for posts, scrutiny of applications, interaction with the shortlisted candidates, getting vigilance clearances, approval of the competent authority, etc, hence, no time-frame can be indicated,” the minister said.

Many vacancies in teaching positions in Central Universities are open as well.

There are 846 vacancies in Delhi University while the number of vacant positions in Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi was 422. The University of Allahabad had 598 vacancies in teaching positions.

Dropout rate of students

“As per Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2019-20 the secondary school dropout rates among boys belonging to General, OBC, SC, and ST categories are 11.6%, 17.5%, 19.8% and 25.5% respectively and the secondary school dropout rates among girls belonging to General, OBC, SC, and ST categories are 10.3%, 15.4%, 17.4%, and 22.5% respectively,” he said.

Vacancies at IITs

Earlier, Pradhan had also shared details of vacancies at top positions in IITs. Eight posts of chairman are vacant in the various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) across the country while five of these key institutions are running without a regular director.

“At present, 8 posts of Chairman at IITs and 21 posts of Chairman at NITs are vacant. Further, 5 posts of Directors in IITs and 5 posts in NITs are vacant. The nomination/selection of Chairman and other posts is a continuous process,” the minister said.