In response to a petition, the Supreme Court of India recently expressed dismay at the low salary paid to contractual teachers in certain colleges in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state. The bench said, “It is disturbing that assistant professors are getting monthly emoluments of Rs 30,000. It is high time that the stakes up the issue and rationalises the pay structure on the basis of functions that they perform.” 

The pay of the contractual assistant professors has not changed since 2012. But those appointed on a regular basis for similar academic duties, are paid between 1.2 to 1.4 lakh rupees per month, i.e. four times more. This violates the principle of equal pay for equal work in the same organisation. The contractual faculty also have no corresponding benefits like health, earned leave or pension, which the regular faculty get. The court said that it is not enough to recite “gururbramha gururvishnu gururdevo maheshwarah” (prayer and adoration of teachers) at public functions if the country was treating its teachers thus.  Academicians, lecturers and professors are the intellectual backbone of the country and they shape young minds.

No Job Security 

But one fourth pay for similar work to contractual teachers is not the only story of disparity. The more lamentable situation is the employing of part time teachers, euphemistically called on “clock hour basis” (CHB) across the country. When universities and colleges have sanctioned positions but do not get approvals to fill those positions as regular appointments, they resort to appointing faculty on CHB basis.  

As per data from July this year, the vacancy rate in central university was at 26 percent of the total 18951 sanctioned posts. The situation in the state universities is much worse. In Rajasthan 1597 of the 2512 sanctioned posts are vacant across sixteen universities. Of these, five state universities are operating without a single permanent faculty member, as per a report from Times of India.  In Maharashtra colleges and universities are heavily reliant on CHB teachers because recruitment has lagged. Of the 53,178 sanctioned positions nearly 7000 remain vacant. More than 60 percent of the teaching posts lie vacant in at least five of the 11 traditional state universities in Maharashtra. These include the universities of Mumbai, Pune and Kolhapur. CHB teachers are paid a measly 400 to 800 rupees per lecture, with a maximum of thirty lectures a month, with no health insurance, pension or leave benefits. There is no job security as they face annual re-appointments and unpredictable workloads. Their situation is similar to daily wage workers.

The General Secretary of the Bombay University and College Teachers’ Union has warned, “By normalising CHB positions, government is casualising higher education … a CHB teacher’s job is akin to that of a daily-wage worker — and the dignity of the profession is lost.” One side effect is that private universities will proliferate, which in itself may not be a bad thing, unless their regulation is lax. With limited state regulatory capacity and oversight, the situation can indeed become bleak and desperate for the faculty in the private colleges too.

Teacher Shortage Crisis

The growing reliance on underpaid, undertrained, and insecure faculty has lowered incentives for long-term academic investment, research, and mentoring. In many colleges, permanent faculty focus on administrative roles, while day-to-day teaching is left to CHB instructors juggling multiple colleges. The teacher shortage crisis is compounded by a collapse of trust in government-run education.

Not surprisingly there is an exodus of students to private colleges and universities.  This can also be seen in the emptying out of government schools. In urban India only about 30 percent students attend government schools, as per a recent CMS survey. This survey also reports that in affluent neighbourhoods, municipal schools operate with single-digit enrolments. Some have been repurposed as anganwadis or have shut down entirely. 

Nearly 54 percent of urban enrolments are in unaided schools. This shift has resulted in underutilised public infrastructure, while municipal budgets continue to fund half-empty schools.  For instance, in the recent July frenzy for admissions to junior colleges across Maharashtra, it was revealed that there were 300 colleges, fully funded by the state, that received zero applicants. These colleges receive grants for staff and faculty salaries but have no students. There is suspicion that this state of affairs has been going on for quite some time. It was shocking enough for the Bombay High Court to take suo moto cognisance and initiate legal proceedings. 

Shadow Schooling Economy

The weak public education system has fuelled a booming shadow schooling economy, with one in three students nationally taking private coaching. In urban areas 98 percent of private unaided school students pay for coaching.   The combined effects of teacher shortages, contractualisation, and parallel schooling are devastating for India’s long-term competitiveness. It leads to poor learning outcomes, misaligned workforce skills where employers consistently complaining of skill shortages, because curricula lag hopelessly behind. No wonder that of the college educated youth in the age group 24 to 29, the unemployment rate is more than 30 percent. 

Graduates are emerging from colleges but are unable to secure employment—a paradox hidden in the promise of higher education. For instance  in the Generative AI (GenAI) sector, only 1 qualified engineer exists for every 10 open positions, per TeamLease Digital.  The electronic manufacturing sector, especially smartphone production, lacks both blue-collar workers and skilled engineers—putting the Make in India momentum at risk.

Needed Education Reforms

The way forward is very clear. An aggressive mission to fill all teacher vacancies with full time appointments, professionalising the CHB positions and enforcing the equal pay for equal work principle, investing in teacher training and updating the curriculum to be future oriented, and rebuilding trust in public schools, colleges and universities.

The Supreme Court’s warning is timely: a society that treats its teachers as expendable “daily wagers” cannot build a knowledge economy. India’s aspirations, whether a $5 trillion economy, a global innovation hub, or skills superpower, ultimately rest on fixing its education foundations.

Investing in educators is investing in the future. Without urgent reforms, the combined weight of teacher shortages, contractualisation, and inequality will deepen the divide between privileged learners and those left behind, risking India’s demographic dividend and long-term growth.

(The writer is a noted Indian economist and commentator. Views expressed are personal. By special arrangement with The Billion Press)