Government schools in Haryana are facing an uneven distribution of primary teachers across districts, with thousands of posts vacant in some areas while others have teachers in excess of their sanctioned requirement. The issue has prompted a teachers' association to seek changes in the cadre and transfer system.
According to figures cited by the association, Palwal has the highest number of vacant primary teacher posts at 1,017, followed by Yamunanagar with 827, Gurugram with 656, Faridabad with 579, Ambala with 550 and Sirsa with 474 vacancies.
At the same time, some districts have more teachers than their sanctioned requirement. Mahendragarh has 250 surplus teachers, followed by Rewari with 225 and Charkhi Dadri with 149, according to the figures cited by the association.
What is causing the imbalance?
The teachers' association has attributed the uneven deployment to Haryana's district-cadre system, under which primary and junior basic teachers are restricted to their respective districts.
Association representative Ashok Jain said the government should allow inter-district adjustment based on the actual requirement of teachers and vacant posts. The association has proposed bringing Primary Teachers (PRTs) and Junior Basic Teachers (JBTs) under a state cadre, followed by an online and transparent inter-district transfer system.
Under the proposed system, teachers could be moved from districts with surplus staff to those facing vacancies, based on school-wise requirements and available posts.
The association said the shortage is significant in rural and remote schools, where vacancies can affect classroom teaching and student learning. It has urged the government to consider redistribution of the existing workforce alongside fresh recruitment.
Haryana has a wider teacher vacancy issue
The latest district-level figures come against the backdrop of a broader shortage in Haryana's government schools.
In February 2026, the Haryana government told the state Assembly that 15,451 teacher posts were vacant across government schools. This included 3,746 vacancies in the Primary Teacher/Head Teacher category, 7,707 TGT/Elementary School Headmaster posts and 3,998 PGT posts.
The government had said recruitment and promotion processes take time, including because of litigation in some cases, and that it was committed to filling vacant posts in a time-bound manner.
Separately, Haryana's 2026-27 Samagra Shiksha planning documents showed 8,449 vacancies among 60,396 sanctioned elementary-level teaching posts, putting the elementary teacher vacancy rate at about 14 per cent.
The state has also been continuing recruitment for primary teachers. The Haryana Staff Selection Commission recently published the final result and related notices for Primary Teachers under the Mewat cadre.
The Haryana Directorate of Elementary Education also lists an order extending joining time for newly selected PRTs in the Mewat cadre among its September 2026 updates.
What are teachers seeking?
The teachers' association is seeking a state-level cadre for PRT and JBT teachers and a transparent online inter-district transfer mechanism. It argues that redistribution could help address vacancies in districts such as Palwal and Yamunanagar by making use of surplus teachers elsewhere.