With Slight Uptick in Education Budget, Will Telangana’s Schooling Sector See an Improvement?

Hyderabad: The Telangana government’s budget for 2025-26 was marked by a slight uptick of 0.25% in Rs 23,108 crore education budget, out of total budget of Rs 3,04,965 crores. The budget was marked by a significant announcement to establish 58 Young India Integrated Residential Schools by spending Rs 11,600 crores and expressed its intention to set up one in every assembly constituency.

This allocation to the education sector amounts to 7.57% of the current budget resulting in an increase of Rs 1,816 crores over last year's budget. But the announcement fell well short of the promised 15% by the Congress party in its 2023 manifesto for assembly elections.

Academics took objection to the new announcement on schools and called it a populist exercise and said it would not yield desired results.

The announcement to establish 58 Young India Integrated Residential Schools was also met with scrutiny from teacher’s unions.

Venugopal, former president of Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation (APTF) in the united state, says that starting another set of schools with difference in facilities and rules guiding the teachers will add to inequity in the society.

“While the syllabus is the same, the state already has model schools, KGBV, Gurukul schools which are categorised caste wise as SC, ST and BC. Service conditions of the teachers in these schools differ though they are equally qualified, leading to resentment. This is a continuation of the deviation from the common school system that the Kothari Commission had recommended. The commission had recommended 30% of the state budget and 10% of the central budget to the education sector,” Venugopal says, adding that it had also recommended similar and better service conditions for teachers to beckon best talent into teaching.

The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV), a chain of schools started ostensibly to bring back girls who have dropped out of schools, is run with funding by both Union and state governments. However, these schools in the residential mode expect teachers to stay in the hostel along with students even though they are hired on contract. Even the principal of KGBV is paid a fixed salary of Rs 33,000 per month without any dearness allowance unlike the norm for other teachers.

Telangana finance minister Bhatti Vikramarka in his budget speech said, “Currently, there are 1,023 government gurukul (residential) schools in Telangana, out of which 662 schools do not have their own buildings. Many gurukuls are operating in buildings with minimal facilities, lacking proper toilet amenities, and housing hundreds of students. Although there are special residential schools for different categories, there is no uniformity in terms of educational standards and basic infrastructure among them. While the global education system has undergone significant transformation, our government schools continue to lag behind by decades.”

In this milieu, Venugopal questioned the rationale for starting new schools and insisted that improvement in existing ones was a better, economical and practical solution. 

The BRS had pegged the establishment and expansion of the gurukul schools from just 293 when the state was formed in 2014 as a mark of its success. The schools however catered to only nine per cent of the total student’s strength of around 60 lakhs in the state. These schools, it was said, bagged higher allocation of around Rs 1,25,000 per child while the common schools ran with a fraction of that cost.

While the previous BRS government showcased the gurukul schools which accommodate only 6,18,880 students out of the 60 lakh students as an achievement, the same will happen with the Young India schools which are being touted as heralding a new beginning. The Rs 11,600 crores allocated to them will not be sufficient even to acquire land for them, said Chava Ravi, president of Telangana State United Teachers Federation.

Presenting the budget, the government informed that it intends to establish the Young India Integrated Residential Schools in all assembly constituencies. But even assuming a strength of 5,000 per school and post their establishment in all the 119 constituencies in the state they will accommodate less than six lakh students, while leaving the other students in the lurch. 

It’s worth recalling that the census 2011 had pegged the literacy of Telangana at 66.54%, much lower than the national average of 74.04%. The figures would be even worse if Hyderabad and its surrounding areas are not factored in. Allocations for education had fallen as a percentage of the budget over the 10 year rule of BRS and its promises remained a mirage. 

The state education commission report also laid bare the shortcomings that should be addressed in the schools. This, while around 1,497 posts tasked with overseeing the education department like DEOs (district education officers), MEOs (mandal education officers), DIET (district institute of education and training) staff, SCERT (State Council of Education Research and Training) 1,244 are vacant. The state has allocated just 6.6% on average per year after the formation of Telangana under the BRS which is less than half of 14.7% states across the country allocated on average. 

Around 5,895 schools are being run by just one teacher and another 2,097 schools don’t have even a single student enrolled.

Of the 612 mandals in the state, 596 of them don’t have mandal education officers leaving the job of overseeing the work of teachers to taking attendance leveraging technology. Many professor and teaching posts in the State Council of Education Research and Training remain unfulfilled leading to lack of standards among the teachers who pass out of B.Ed. and DIET colleges. 

The state government’s socio-economic outlook for 2025 contrary to the Congress party’s national policy says that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 represents a landmark reform aimed at transforming India’s educational landscape to meet 21st-century needs.

Hype and hoopla

The finance minister’s speech waxed eloquent about increased diet charges by 40% and cosmetic charges by 200% in all gurukuls, welfare department hostels and Kasturba Gandhi Girls' schools, benefitting 7.66 lakh students across the state. 

The increase quoted in percentages are misleading and insufficient as the previous BRS government had not increased them from 2017. 

Explaining the problems faced by mid-day meal workers, Prem Pavani, state president of the workers reminds that the allocations don’t factor in the seasonal change in rates of vegetables. “While rice is supplied by the state civil supplies corporation, the cost of vegetables, oil, and gas have to be managed from the Rs 6.19 for primary school students and Rs 9.29 for upper primary school of sixth to eight class students,” he says.

The mid-day meal cooks were paid a measly Rs 1,000 per month until April 2024. Of this Rs 600 is given by the centre and the state contributes Rs 400. The amount was increased to Rs 3,000 from June 2024 by the previous BRS government. The incumbent government is yet to keep its poll promise to increase it to Rs 10,000 per month. 

“The recent 40% increase in diet charges by the state government which were not increased after 2017 is not commensurate with more than 50% inflation rate as per the consumer price index of Telangana during the 2017 to 2024 period for food and beverages group. The state civil supplies corporation supplies only rice to the schools while prices of other commodities fluctuate but have to be purchased from the market by the cooks. The price of dal which was Rs 3,500 in the state agriculture markets in 2017 increased to Rs 8,000 by 2024,” says Prof. Venkatnarayana Motkuri of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies in Hyderabad.

Status quo continues in varsities

Manohar, president of Osmania University Teachers Association, informs that apart from appointment of vice-chancellors to universities, there has been no headway in their functioning on important issues like recruitment of teaching faculty.

“A full-fledged executive council is needed to call for recruitment. A truncated council consisting of IAS officials currently constitute the council and are prevailing over the varsity’s functioning. Promises of recruiting teaching faculty have remained mere words,” he says. 

Of the 1,248 sanctioned faculty positions, only 340 are employed as permanent staff. This has caused a 70% shortage in permanent staff members.

Consequence of unpaid fee reimbursement

Madhusudhan Reddy, president of the Government Junior Lecturers Association, says no new buildings have been constructed for the colleges in the last five years and 63 inter degree colleges are being run in a shift system. As many as 23 new intermediate colleges apparently opened have remained only on paper. Of these, 10 were started during the BRS and 13 after the Congress came to power. A college opened in Daulatabad in CM Revanth Reddy’s constituency was shifted to Kodangal as it did not have infrastructure or students.

He pegs the deaths of students to suicides in both the Telugu states at 1,733 from the year 2000. “Chargesheet has not been filed even in one of these cases and the Neerada Reddy committee report given in 2002 continues to gather dust.”

Kranthi Kumar Bandela, president of Indian National Yuva Jana Party, who is pursuing these cases says, “When suicides take place the matter is hushed up by using monetary means. Cases of food poisoning are seldom highlighted in the media which eyes advertisements from them.” He adds that the intermediate board doesn’t have data on these deaths and keeps no check on fees.

Citing pending dues of over Rs 3,000 crores over the years, Dr Bojja Suryanarayana Reddy, president of Telangana Private Degree and PG Colleges Management Association, said that notices have been issued to the authorities concerned and varsity vice chancellors but they are boycotting the final exams set to be held from next month. The dues, according to Vemula Ramakrishna, president of Telangana BC Students Association, are nearly Rs 8,000 crores, if dues of professional courses like engineering, polytechnic and others are included. 

The college managements had resorted to the closure of the institutes earlier twice citing inability to pay salaries of teaching and other staff, as well as the rents of buildings on hire. The assurance of no less than the deputy chief minister was needed to clear them by March end but that also did not materialise. 

In this milieu, the state government issued a circular banning protests at Osmania University. Having drawn flak for it and despite clarifying its stand, the government seems to have made its intentions clear on bulldozing its way in the Kancha Gachibowli lands issue near the Hyderabad Central University. 

Thus, it seems that the seventh promise of democratic engagement which the Congress party vouched for during the 2023 assembly polls will remain a mirage.

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