Over 520 reserved teaching posts for SC, ST, OBC categories lying vacant in Assam’s colleges and universities

More than 520 teaching posts reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) remain vacant across government colleges and universities in Assam, the state assembly was informed on November 27.

Responding to a written query by Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia, Assam Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said that 522 posts reserved for SC, ST and OBC categories in state-run higher educational institutions are currently unfilled. Of these, 429 vacancies are in colleges and 93 in universities.

The minister further revealed that vacancies are not limited to reserved categories alone. A total of 775 teaching posts under the general category are also vacant across colleges and universities in the state.

Breaking down the category-wise vacancies in colleges, Pegu informed that 297 posts are vacant for OBC candidates, while SC and ST categories have 46 and 96 unfilled posts respectively. In universities, 49 OBC posts, 13 SC posts and 31 ST posts currently remain unoccupied.

The figures, tabled in the assembly, highlight the widening gap in faculty recruitment and underscore the need for urgent measures to strengthen higher education staffing across Assam.