House panel terms vacancy situation in UGC, AICTE ‘critical’, Pg10

Key Highlights:

• House panel flagged "critical vacancy situation" in UGC and AICTE.
• Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025 proposes dismantling UGC and AICTE.
• UGC has a vacancy rate of 67.6% with 516 out of 763 non-teaching positions vacant.
• AICTE has filled only 20 posts on a regular basis in the last six years.
• India's expenditure on education in 2022-23 was 4.06% of GDP, below the NEP 2020 target of 6%.

Detailed Insights:

• The Department-related Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports, headed by MP Digvijaya Singh, presented its report on the Department of Higher Education’s Demands for Grants for FY 2026-27.
• The panel expressed concern about the lack of centralized data on vacancies in Central Universities and cautioned against year-end expenditure rushes.
• Vacancies in the UGC impact its ability to monitor universities, process grant proposals, and implement NEP 2020.
• 63.6% of sanctioned posts in the middle and senior administrative levels are vacant in AICTE, potentially hampering its operations and the technical landscape.
• NEP 2020 aims to increase public investment in education to reach 6% of GDP to strengthen the education sector.

Key Concepts Involved:

• UGC: A statutory body responsible for the coordination, determination, and maintenance of standards of university education in India.
• AICTE: A statutory body and a national-level council for technical education, responsible for planning, promotion and regulation of technical education system in India.
• NEP 2020: The National Education Policy 2020, which outlines the vision and framework for education in India.