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Indian centrally administered schools — Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) and Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) — are hit by more than 12,000 vacant teacher positions. Union State Education Minister Jayant Chaudhary revealed this in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on July 23, 2025.

7,765 are in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and 4,323 in Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), the education ministry informed. A total of 12,088 central school teacher posts have thus gone vacant.

REASONS FOR TEACHER SHORTAGE

The Minister attributed the posts accumulation to quite a number of reasons - opening of fresh schools, retirements, promotion, transfers, resignation and some other administrative causes.

"Vacant teaching posts are filled up on some grounds like opening of new school, retirement, promotion, and transfer," he said and repeated.

RECRUITMENT PROCESS BEGINS

Recruitment process has been awarded by government. Recruitment is being done according to the existing norms of recruitment of KVS and NVS.

Ad-hoc teachers are being kept on ad-hoc basis so that there would never be any lack of teaching till regular appointments.

OTHER ORGANISATIONS ALSO ARE-awaiting staff shortages

It is not KVS and NVS alone. Even the education administration itself such as the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has 143 Group A academic posts vacant.

The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) also is short of 60 officials.

The ministry is employing all the middle means to expedite teacher appointments and not allow students' learning to be delayed.

“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.” – Mahatma Gandhi

In a world where the vast majority of people are inundated with fast food, faster internet and instant access to communication, the idea of “slow living” is a radical act of defiance against contemporary notions of life. The cause was borne as a reaction against the hectic lifestyle of urban life, combined with the glorification of the hustle culture. 

The slow living movement focuses on intentionality, being present, sustainability, and adjusting priorities. Although slow living emerged from the west, particularly with the "slow food" movement in Italy in the 1980s, it is finding some curious takers among urban dwellers in India. The dilemma still remains - is slow living in Indian cities just a fad for the privileged; or is it a much deeper and possibly sustainable lifestyle change?

Understanding Slow Living: Philosophy and Practice

Slow living is not the same as doing things really slowly. It means mindfully engaging with life and discusses quality over quantity - for work, relationships, consumption, and the management of time. It encourages sustainable consumption, work-life balance, mental wellness, and reconnecting with our community and nature. 

Principles of slow living include:

•  Intention: Living with purpose and mindfulness. 
•  Sustainability: Making environmentally-conscious decisions. 
• Simplicity: More freedom by lessening physical clutter, mental clutter, and digital clutter. 
•  Community: Building relationships that are genuine and caring, instead of being transactional. 

In practice, it could be buying local goods, prioritizing health and wellbeing over unending work, reducing the amount of time you spend on screens, or doing freelance or entrepreneurial work instead of a full time, corporate job to regain control over your lifestyle.

 Slow Living in the India Context or A Cultural Memory?

India with its traditions of Ahimsa (non-violence), Aparigraha (non-possessiveness), and Sanyam (self-restraint), has long engaged with the idea of slow living, well before the term was fashionable. "Jeevan ka Anand" (joy of life) and "Sahajta" (effortlessness) are both expressions of these values. Values based on Ayurveda, yoga, traditional cooking, crafts, etc. all define a slowness for living in a more holistic way.

Modern Sushirana cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi, Hyderabad, on the other hand, are characterized by speed, ambition, and consumerism. The transition from a traditional society to urban and then industrial and now service sector society has been disruptive as those cities never returned to the slowness. The contemporary slow living practices that have recently emerged in these cities are perhaps some form a re-balancing act as they involve awakening the pasts through some memory of cultural reasons in the digital age.

The Urban Catalyst: The Time is Now?

1. Burn Out & Hustle Fatigue

The urban youth of India have grown up in a system that rewards competition, long hours, and a culture that idolises over-full lives. The pandemic and lockdowns have forced a pause and to ask the question: "What do I really want?" For many urban youth, this resulted in lifestyle changes, choosing to leave high-stress work situations, move back to smaller towns or start ventures from home. 

2. Mental Health Awareness

Anxiety, depression and digital fatigue have opened up conversations about mental health and digital wellness movements such as digital detoxing, mindful social media use, and nature therapy are now growing with slow living ideals. 

3. Work Life Integration

The rise of remote work in our post-pandemic world has created the opportunity to rethink work-life integration. Remote work gives urban professionals the ability to reflect more time towards leisure, family, and wellness, all key tenants of slow living. 

4. Climate Crisis & Sustainability

The climate crisis has urged urban Indians to think about their levels of consumption, particularly regarding sustainability. Urban youth are drawn to initiatives like zero waste living, minimalist fashion, and local farm-to-table eating, and this trend of sustainability is only growing among socially conscious millennials and gen Z.

 Who Can Afford Slow Living?

An important critique of slow living practices in Indian cities is that they are a privilege of the economic elite. Particularly in this context, many of the practices that drop the pace of our lives require cultural, social, and economic capital: reducing work hours; consuming alternate or sustainable products (which are often more expensive); and moving to a slow town. Most of these options are only available to middle- and upper-middle classes.

For daily wage labourers, gig economy riders, and salaried professionals scraping by on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis, slow living is out of reach. Slow living is a dream. It raises an important question: Can slow living be inclusive? Is slow living just another ideal around a lifestyle reinforced in economic privilege?

Slow Becoming a Social Act of Resistance

In spite of the seriousness of the class issue, Slow itself can be regarded as a form of resistance — to capitalism, to the rampant destruction of environments, to tech companies' domination of our attention. Young people, especially in the wake of the pandemic, are increasingly vocal about valuing mental peace over financial success.

Fridays for Future IndiaMinimalist living YouTubers, and rural relocation influencers are movements that demonstrate awareness and desire to occupy space for something more than consumerism. As cities become increasingly polluted, stressful, and unequal places to live, slow living becomes more than aspirational living, it becomes mandatory for survival and sanity.

 Is It Really Just a Trend?

While it is true that elements of slow living have been commercialized, such as high-end wellness retreats or artisanal brands, the principal concepts of slow living are slowly permeating the urban core. Slow living differs from a fad; it is based on principles and values that are timeless and relatable in all cultures across generations.

Slow living is also being modified to address Indian realities:

 Local produce that may not be organic over imported organic

 Public parks and community libraries as spaces of leisure and slowness

 Simple rituals in daily life: chai break, evening walks, spiritual chanting.

This localized version of slow living suggests that the Western product may appeal to specific audience segments, but Indian slow living may have a cultural significance and some durability.

A Quiet Revolution in Progress

Slow living in Indian cities is not just a trend. While the current shape may be biased towards the privileged, its philosophy has universal relevance. In the face of escalating urban stress, it is offering a sustainable, inclusive, and human response to contemporary challenges.

Which means, to fully adopt it as a practice, we will need to shift urban planning,corporate mindset, and public consciousness. But the signs are encouraging. From balcony gardens, to unplugged Sundays we are witnessing a quiet revolution taking place in the hearts of India's crowded cities.

Perhaps slow living's greatest promise is this: that in a country far too in motion, we can still find space to stop, breathe, and regain the rhythm of our life - one deliberate action at a time.

By Ananya Awasthi

Every morning hours before the school bill chimes, Dhuniram* takes a stroll past the dusty eyeglass of his village in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. A second-generation government school teacher, he pauses at the doorsteps of the children who have not attended school for weeks with a smile or gentle push.

Sometimes he simply sits with the grandmother or the mother in the verandah drinking tea, to inform them why staying in school or going to school still matters.

In his class, he weaves together Bhojpuri, Hindi, Science, Math and English textbooks to develop relevant lessons for his children from the. His blackboard is scratched and broken, and he might have to teach children of three different classes at once in the same class.

His eyes are constantly searching for the hungry child, the scared child, the struggling child.

For most of the time, he is more than a teacher, a substitute parent, a policy translator, a link between school and home, a negotiator of hope and reality, a weaver of prerequisite and actual learning, between past performances and future possibility.

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 committed to transforming learning across the country, but the question we must pose is who do we believe to make it available in our classrooms?

Teachers like Dhuniram represent the pulsating heart of such a query and therefore we must return to an even more fundamental query: Who is a teacher in today's India?

India's school system caters to 24.8 crore students enrolled in 14.72 lakh schools by 98 lakh teachers, according to Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) and National Economic Survey 2024–25.

50% of students are educated and 51% of teachers are working in government schools. But the teachers are not a homogeneous group — their realities differ quite extensively based on socio-economic background, job security, remuneration, and working conditions.

Even when they enter classrooms, the trajectories of future teachers are shaped by market forces, economic coercion, and unequal access to good education.

The tradition of the Indian teacher has also been shaped by power and purpose. From the revered Guru of the past to the colonial bureaucrat trained to reproduce knowledge, the teacher's role has shifted between freedom and control.

After independence, teachers were envisioned as the forces behind a democratic country — but this dream was sabotaged by under-funded, isolated teacher training schools that cared about compliance, not imagination.

Thus, teacher training slowly became a transmission space and not a discussion space. We have always been interested in — 'how to teach' — but never actually sorted out in-depth the what, why, or for whom of teaching.

Our teachers are offered a highly standardized curriculum, yet a standardized method not only has a tendency to flatten the richness but also constrains the potential of teachers to think, adapt, and innovate as per the needs of their students.

NEP 2020 had recognized this long-standing gap and called for the establishment of an integrated four-year programme. This was a significant step but structure alone cannot change the essence of teacher education.

Because the real crisis is not just with what we teach teachers to do — but with how we even think of them in the first place. As long as we keep thinking of teachers as solely implementers of curriculum — not thinkers, collaborators, co-creators, and caregivers — reforms will not go any further than the policy.

All too often, teachers enter the classroom with questions that have not been investigated, internalized hierarchies, and a lack of clarity about their own purpose because their own preparation never allowed them to reflect critically on questions.

And in India, where caste, gender, language, religion, and poverty inescapably condition learning, thoughtful pedagogy can still reinscribe inequality unless teachers are helped to critically think through both their own position and the position of their own students.

Without reflection, even progressive methods can fail the most needy learners. So we need to move beyond teacher training and methods to the development of reflective practitioners.

Let's start first by investing in the construction of teacher training institutions as communities of inquiry, not bureaucracy. Institutions must be infused with discussion, debate and secure connections to local schools and communities.

Second, teacher education cannot be a one-off point but a life course. Communities of practice, reflection, and in-situ coaching and mentoring should become the rule, rather than the exception.

Third, we must shift the cultural imagination of the teacher. Honour them, not as heroes who have endured sacrifice, but as successful professionals, whose knowledge is vital to building an equal future. In a new India, which is asking questions about what learning will be like, let us remember also: unless people in the classroom change, classrooms do not.

Teachers like Dhuniram are already setting the example — not through heroics, but through little, everyday actions of love, justice, and belief in their children.

Admission at Indian government schools has witnessed a whopping decrease, with over 87 lakh students less being reported in the academic year 2023–24 compared to the previous year. This was exposed in a Lok Sabha on Monday, when Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan replied to the MPs' questions Sougata Ray and Kishori Lal.

While, the Minister cautioned against reading the decline as wrong, as the sharp fall has to do with a paradigm change in gathering data and not actual dropouts.

"There has been a complete change from gross enrolment data to student-wise student data from 2022–23 onwards. That makes year-on-year comparison statistically inconsistent," Pradhan said.

It has followed from recommendations made in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which have led India's school data system to be overhauled. With this overhaul, the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) began collecting exact, student-level data from the 2022–23 academic years, replacing the conventional, bulk-data approach.

Although the new system guarantees more accurate, open, and transparent records, the wide disparity in published figures has run a shiver down the spine of the education industry. Experts point out that the downturn can be an indication of true issues such as higher dropout, shift in preference to private schools, or institutions underreporting because they are still adapting to the digital upgrade.

To pre-empt any such bitterness, the government still lays thrust on the push under the Samagra Shiksha scheme, disbursing over ₹34,45,820 lakh to states and UTs for 2024–25 for retaining schools and infrastructure.

Even as India adopts tech-enabled accountability in education, the challenge is clear: making sure that information reforms don't cloud ground realities at least for some time. Till then, educationists appeal to the government to dig deeper into the reasons why the decline happened and make sure the students are not merely names in an ecosystem—but learners in a classroom. 

The digital revolution has changed the way in which teenagers connect, communicate, and consume. India, with one of the youngest populations in the world and a rapidly increasing rate of internet penetration, has been embracing this change wholeheartedly. But behind the convenience and connection of the digital world is a growing problem — cyberbullying (the act of bullying using the internet or mobile devices). With the common use of smartphones and social media, scores of adolescents will find new ways to experience teen online harassment in India, and serious implications arise in regard to the digital safety of teenagers. 

Cyberbullying may often be disguised as offhand jokes or trolling, but it is becoming apparent as a silent epidemic in both schools and homes. The internet's anonymity, plus adolescents' psychological vulnerability, are significant social dangers. 

Understanding Cyber Bullying: Definitions and Types

Cyberbullying is bullying which is conducted using electronic devices, such as mobile phones, computers, or tablets. It may include sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false content about someone else, or may be intended to embarrass, intimidate or humiliate an individual. Teenagers are at significant risk of being bullied online, given that their self-esteem and emotional resiliency are still forming.

The important issue is not the technology per se; it is the technology being used in a context without feelings of empathy and accountability.

The Numbers Are Alarming

• A report by Child Rights and You (CRY) in 2023 stated that over 35% of Indian teenagers report that they are bullied via cyberspace and that far more reports were identified as girls'.

• Also, a UNESCO report identified that India is one of the top five hardest countries for school-age teenagers with online abuse.

• Urban schools are naturally perceived to experience this issue more based on the number of digital tools available. And they do. But the term of the issue in rural/semi-urban schools is closing in speed to urban schools; and its metrics in rural and semi-urban areas are most likely very much under-reported, implicitly based on knowledge.

• In one situation, one of the participants, a parent or authority, heard about the cyberbullying. Other studies show that girls were reported to be more likely to be a victim of harassment than boys, in relation to body shame or an attack on character, etc. 

Incidents do not stop at larger metropolitan cities. The access to the internet in semi-urban or rural India is growing, and with it comes teen online harassment, in many instances without any or little parental guidance and/or using very little digital literacy.

Cyber Bullying in India: Real Cases

A few cases have made social media bullying in India an active social conversation:

1. A teenage girl living in Delhi experienced social media mass bullying following the release of private images of herself. The context of the images and her emotional state of darkness led to extreme depression.
2. The "Bois Locker Room" case exposed the male high school students' ability through Instagram to share disgusting, explicit materials and continually body-shame their female classmates.
3. In the Maharashtrian state of India, a girl in class 10 reportedly tried to take her own life after continuous peer bullying from school peers regarding her looks, and was also targeted on the social media messaging platforms Telegram and Snapchat.

The issues around social media and its abuse illustrate the acute hazards of real-world consequences and highlight the need for systemic solutions.

Psychological Effects of Online Harassment on Teen Victims

The emotional impact of ‘Teen online harassment in India’ is not just a short-term impact. Many victims of cyberbullying deal with:

• Depression and Anxiety: Constant harassment can lead to decreased self-worth, feelings solitary, and other mental health consequences.

• Decline in education status: Fear and anxiety hinder the concentration required in a classroom environment.

• Social withdrawal: Victims’ social interactions may start to decrease to avoid social settings, online and offline.

• Thoughts of suicide: In extreme subordinance, some teenagers may be driven to self-harm or suicide; India has seen heartbreaking instances of this that have shed light on this crisis.

Reasons for School-Age Cyber Bullying

1. More Screen Time: Teenagers have been online more than ever during and after the pandemic. Once again, the shift to the digital world means young people are interacting more than before, at the risk of engaging in negative experiences.
2. Anonymity and no accountability: Digital spaces allow bullies to act without accountability -- they can hide behind the screen and pseudonyms. The anonymity of cyberspace can give bullies a false sense of invincibility, but they can still engage in socially aggressive behaviours without much recourse.
3. Peer pressure and acceptance: Teens often define popularity and acceptance by the number of ‘likes’ and followers on social media. Bullies may resort to cyberbullying as a way to establish power over others, or it may be a manner of entertainment for those who want to get attention.
4. Lack of knowledge and supervision: There seems to be a lack of knowledge by Indian parents and teachers about what social media platforms and apps kids are on, which offers little in the way of supervision and knowledge about these processes, thus continuing a lack of supervision and allowing cyberbullying to continue without awareness.

Teen cyberbullying in India is a serious concern that is only enhanced by technology, but goes deeper into the now "normal" lives of adolescents. As the number of incidents of teen online harassment in India rises, the time for thoughtful, collaborative, and coordinated responses to the issue of youth online safety is long overdue.

Whether it is cyberbullying in Indian schools, harassment and bullying on social media platforms, or threats to teen digital safety, the solutions begin with caringness paired with awareness and education about cyberbullying and now:

1. a) teaching teenagers how to respond to cyberbullying in a positive way. 
2. b) helping them become responsible digital citizens empowered to grow as leaders. 
3. c) holding the cyber bully accountable for their actions.

By increasing awareness, leading with empathy, and educating youth about positive use of the internet, from being a source of trauma, to a source of learning, and positive connectivity.

As technology continues to evolve, let us all do what we can to ensure that the safety, dignity, and well-being of our teenagers are never compromised. 

Shaping a Secure Digital Space

Cyber harassment amongst teenagers is not only a technological problem but also a socio-psychological one that involves shared responsibility from students, parents, educators, technology companies and policy makers.

A Culture of Empathy

All anti-bullying strategies must be shaped by empathy. Schools should promote kindness, inclusivity and emotional intelligence using storytelling, mentoring and role modelling.

Creating Responsibility

Teenagers should be challenged not only to protect themselves, but also to be accountable as digital citizens who engage with their peers in effective ways. Student peer mentorship programs, cyber safety clubs and student-driven awareness campaigns can create ownership and accountability.

Conclusion

The increase in teen online harassment from India invites society to respond with urgency. We are entering a period where the overwhelming majority of teens' interactions occur critically online versus offline. It becomes essential to act in response to the need for the mental and emotional well-being of teens at a time when cyber bullying in Indian schools to social media bullying in India are serious threats with tangible effects, but, ultimately, so too are the solutions. 

Educating teens on how to combat cyberbullying, emphasising digital safety for teenagers, and supporting systems that show responsive, inclusive, and compassionate responses with ongoing individual and collective engagement will help to turn an environment that can represent a battlefield of interaction between teens into a platform for growth, learning, and connection. 

The digital world is now here in both its positive and negative forms. It will continue to expand and become an integral part of society. It is upon all of us to ensure it becomes a safe space for the next generation.

ARTICLE BY- ANANYA AWASTHI

Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Monday hardened his position against religious and community groups encroaching on the functioning of educational institutions and added that school timings in the whole state would not be decided based on their convenience.

He clarified that neither his department nor he were involved in the time changes of the state schools during the ongoing academic year.

"There are some religious and community organizations in the state. We cannot change the schedule of our schools and children's exams according to their convenience," he told journalists here.

To aid the new timings of state schools, the minister also cited the examples of school timings of Kendriya Vidyalayas in the state as well as in Gulf nations.

"We will try to convince one and all about this. There will be a meeting with representatives of school managements on Wednesday," he further added.

Sivankutty also said as per the rules and regulations of the Right to Education, schools should have 220 working days.

According to sources in the General Education Department, the meeting will be held at Sivankutty's chamber in Thiruvananthapuram on July 23 afternoon.

One representative from each management is expected to attend the meeting, where the minister shall lay out the reasons why the school hours are being altered by the government, they further added.

Sivankutty had recently cleared that school hours cannot be modified in order to "accommodate a specific community", as the government would need to examine the interests of lakhs of students.

He stated that the Kerala High Court order had prompted the 30-minute increase in school timing, and any aggrieved person can seek legal recourse.

High school students (classes 8-10) will have 15 minutes of additional morning and evening classes on all working days except Fridays under the new schedule, to help schools complete the minimum 1,100 instructional hours annually.

The minister's clarification comes amid growing Muslim criticism, including that of the Sunni clerical body Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, which contends that the "long hours will disturb religious studies."