Srinagar, March 27 -- The stark figures emerging from Jammu and Kashmir's higher education sector paint a troubling picture of systemic neglect. With nearly 40 per cent of sanctioned teaching posts lying vacant across a dozen universities, the region's academic institutions are being forced to function with skeletal faculty strength, straining both teachers and students. This is not a marginal shortfall; it is a structural crisis that undermines the very foundation of higher learning in a region where education is often seen as a pathway to stability and opportunity.

The imbalance is glaring. Universities such as Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University and the Islamic University of Science and Technology are operating with more than half the...