Chennai: More than 10,000 teacher posts have remained vacant in Tamil Nadu's primary education department for the past 13 years, raising serious concerns about the quality of education in government schools.

According to official data, the state has over 31,000 government primary and middle schools catering to more than 20 lakh students. Despite this, teacher recruitment has been inadequate since 2012-13, when large-scale appointments were last made. Although over 2,000 vacancies were filled this year, more than 10,000 posts remain unfilled.

Educationists warn that the shortage of teachers has led to a decline in learning outcomes. They argue that if primary education remains weak, the overall academic performance of students in higher classes will continue to suffer.

Members of the Primary Education Teachers' Association said that the neglect of primary education has resulted in students reaching higher grades without basic literacy and numeracy skills. “Thousands of TET-qualified candidates are waiting for recruitment. Filling these vacancies will reduce the need for costly remedial programmes,” they said.

They also urged the government to fulfil its election promise of filling all vacant teaching positions and to stop relying on temporary appointments with consolidated pay.