Reported by Mrinal Banik

Agartala: The Tripura High Court has urged the state government and the Teachers’ Recruitment Board, Tripura (TRBT), to expedite recruitment to fill nearly 9,000 vacant teacher posts, observing that the shortage could affect the quality of education in government schools.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice M S Ramachandra Rao and Justice S Datta Purkayastha made the observation while hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (WP(C) (PIL) No. 09 of 2026) on October 1.

Perusing an additional affidavit filed by the state government, the court noted that the services of 9,756 teachers had been terminated pursuant to a direction of the High Court approved by the Supreme Court.

The affidavit stated that 2,672 teachers in Secondary Education and 3,021 teachers under the Directorate of Elementary Education retired between 2018-19 and 2023-24. According to the court, this resulted in 15,449 vacancies by the end of 2023-24.

During the same period, the respondents said they had recruited 1,471 Graduate Teachers for Classes IX-X, 444 Post Graduate Teachers for Classes XI-XII, 88 Special Educators, 3,615 Graduate Teachers for Classes VI-VIII and 1,041 Undergraduate Teachers for Classes I-V.

The court noted that a total of 6,659 persons had been appointed, leaving a backlog of almost 9,000 teacher posts.

The Bench expressed concern over the pace of recruitment, noting that the TRBT had issued an advertisement in September 2025 for only 700 Graduate Teacher posts and had not issued any advertisement in 2026 for other posts.

The examination for the 700 posts was held in February 2026 and, according to submissions in another PIL, the selected candidates were expected to receive appointment letters by the end of November 2026.

“It was incumbent on the part of the State Government to show more speed in filling up the posts,” the Bench observed, given the gap between vacancies and appointments.

The court said the absence of teachers on such a scale would impact the situation in government schools and said blaming parents for enrolling their children in private schools could not be an answer.

The Bench also noted that, according to UDISE data for 2025-26, electricity connections were available in 84 per cent of schools, while drinking water facilities were available in 4,048 of 4,144 government schools. It said there ought to be 100 per cent availability of both facilities.

The court further noted that toilet facilities were available in 90 per cent of schools for girls and 92 per cent for boys and directed the state to bridge the gap immediately.

The Bench directed the state government to file an additional counter affidavit on these aspects.

It also impleaded the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council, represented by its Chief Executive Officer, as a respondent, noting that many schools are located in areas under its jurisdiction.

The TTAADC has been given time to file a counter affidavit on allegations concerning a large number of single-teacher high and higher secondary schools, teacher vacancies in such institutions and the engagement of contractual teachers instead of making regular appointments.

The matter has been listed for November 16, 2026.