BY TC News Desk
Agartala, 20th March 2026: Agitation over teacher vacancies and the recruitment of guest lecturers dominated the Tripura Legislative Assembly’s budget session. Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman pressed the Higher Education Minister Kishore Barman with a series of questions on the matter.
Raising the issue, Sudip Roy Barman noted that while the government has acknowledged 306 vacant teaching posts, there are currently 732 guest or visiting lecturers appointed across colleges in the state. He added that recruitment is underway for 200 posts through the Tripura Public Service Commission (TPSC), with proposals for creating an additional 201 new posts—bringing the total to 401—and questioned the rationale behind creating 95 more posts.
The Congress MLA also raised concerns about inconsistencies in recruitment standards. According to UGC guidelines, lecturers must hold NET, SLET, or PhD qualifications, but many guest lecturers reportedly possess only postgraduate degrees. He further claimed that in some cases, candidates with only postgraduate degrees were promoted to assistant professor positions and questioned whether the age limit for candidates over 40 would be relaxed.
In response, Minister Kishore Barman tried to clarify the situation, but Chief Minister Manik Saha intervened, explaining that due to a long-standing shortage of NET, SLET, and PhD-qualified candidates, the practice of appointing guest and visiting lecturers has been in place. Sudip Roy Barman countered, asserting that there are nearly 1,700 eligible candidates in the state. The Chief Minister assured that the matter would be examined.
Earlier in the session, Congress MLA Gopal Chandra Roy had also raised the issue of vacant posts on the fifth day of the budget session. Minister Kishore Barman reiterated that 306 posts remain vacant and efforts are underway to fill them, though the opposition sought a clear timeline for the recruitment process.
Opposition leader Jitendra Chowdhury joined the discussion, highlighting that as of July 30, 2019, the approved number of assistant professor posts was 1,390, and per UGC norms, the teacher-student ratio should be 1:30.
Providing detailed figures, Minister Kishore Barman stated that of the 306 vacancies, 234 are in general degree colleges, 26 in professional colleges, and 46 in technical institutions. In general degree colleges, 449 of 683 posts have been filled, and 201 assistant professor posts are under TPSC consideration. In technical colleges, 58 of 104 posts are filled, with 46 still vacant. An additional 200 new posts have been proposed.
Despite these measures, the presence of 732 guest lecturers in state colleges remains the central focus of criticism from the opposition.
