The decline in the higher education system in Madhya Pradesh (MP) is not solely due to a lack of resources; a significant contributing factor is the massive shortage of teachers. While the MP government is actively establishing new colleges, it is failing to recruit the necessary professors to staff them. The figures are alarming: currently, there are approximately 7,000 vacant positions for Assistant Professors in the state. Over the past three years, a total of 16,289 positions have remained unfilled, with the government and the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC) managing to fill only 22%, or 3,599, of these positions.
In 2022, only 1,669 positions were advertised against 3,715 vacancies—a mere 44%. The situation worsened in 2024, with 7,284 vacancies but only 1,930 positions advertised, representing just 26%. This raises questions about the government's intentions. Is the failure to recruit professors for colleges contributing to the decline in higher education, and if so, to whose benefit? What is the point of opening new colleges without teachers?
In government colleges across the state, 75% of professorial positions are vacant. In 2020, there were 860 sanctioned professorial posts in MP colleges; this number decreased by 12 to 848 in five years. During this period, the number of working professors increased by 26, while vacant positions decreased by 28. The last direct recruitment of professors by the PSC was in 2011-12. Since then, no advertisements for professorial positions have been issued.
The sluggish functioning of the MPPSC has exacerbated this problem. Interviews for the 2022 recruitment examinations were delayed for years, and schedules for several subjects are yet to be released. As a result, the burden of teaching in 569 government colleges falls on guest faculty or acting principals. Even in educational hubs like Indore, over 300 positions are vacant, and some departments lack any regular faculty.
Recently, Higher Education Minister Inder Singh Parmar, in response to a question in the state assembly, revealed that 93 courses are run across the state's 17 government universities. Of the 1,069 sanctioned positions for assistant professors, 74% are vacant, leaving only 236 positions filled.
Five universities in the state—Raja Shankar Shah University, Chhindwara; Krantiveer Tatya Tope University, Guna; Kranti Surya Tantya Bhil University, Khargone; Maharaja Chhatrasal Bundelkhand University, Chhatarpur; and Rani Avantibai Lodhi University, Sagar—do not have a single assistant professor.
Madhya Pradesh has 569 government colleges. By 2024, there were 12,895 sanctioned positions for assistant professors, of which only 5,611 were filled, leaving 56% vacant. Over the past five years, the number of sanctioned positions increased by 29%, the number of working assistant professors decreased by 13%, and the number of vacant positions increased by 64%.
