The government on Monday said there was “no provision under rules” to regularise nearly 250 contractual teachers across the 12 campuses of a centrally funded Sanskrit university, drawing accusations that the NDA regime was neglecting the ancient language.

Satyapal Singh, minister of state for human resource development, on Monday ruled out regularising the services of these contractual teachers of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (RSkS) while replying to a question from a BJP MP.

“There are around 240 contractual/guest teachers in various off-campuses of Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan. There is no provision under rules to regularise these contractual/guest teachers,” the minister said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha to the question from Kaushal Kishore.

“At present, the ratio of contractual/guest teachers is not as per the guidelines. The government is in the process of increasing the sanctioned strength of teachers and thereafter regular teachers will be recruited to make the ratio as per the guidelines,” Singh said.

The Delhi-based RSkS is a leading institution of the Union government to promote higher education in Sanskrit. It has 12 campuses across the country with a sanctioned teacher strength of 491.

There are, however, 228 regular teachers now and contract and guest teachers manage the deficit.

A month ago, these contractual teachers from various campuses of the RSkS had observed a weeklong dharna here demanding that their jobs be regularised.

Pitambra Mishra, a contractual teacher from the Puri campus of the RSkS, expressed disappointment at the minister’s response.

He said the RSkS administration had assured them their demand would be forwarded to the government. “The government is not sincere about the promotion of Sanskrit education,” Mishra added.

The contractual teachers get a consolidated amount of Rs 41,000 a month while regular teachers draw over Rs 1 lakh.