Admissions in government schools decline in Telangana

Government schools have seen a 4.45 lakh drop in enrolments, while private schools gained 5.37 lakh new students, despite government schools offering English medium instruction.

Hyderabad: The loss for government schools is turning out to be private schools’ gain. In a concerning trend, the government schools saw a big drop in the enrolments, while the private schools have registered a corresponding rise in the State.

According to the data released by the State government, a staggering 4.45 lakh reduction in admissions in the government schools contrasted an increase of 5.37 lakh new enrolments in the private schools in the last three academic years.

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Admissions in the government institutions have come down from 30,78,189 in 2021-22 to 26,36,630 in 2023-24, while the same academic year, the enrolments in the private schools increased from 28,67,895 to 34,05,430.

This decline in admissions in the government schools has been at all levels. However, it has been most at the primary level, where enrolment numbers have fallen by more than 3 lakh.

The statistics paint a clear picture of a growing preference for private education despite the government schools introducing English medium of instruction for all the classes.

For many families, including those from the lower middle class, the decision to enrol their children in private schools is mainly driven by quality education, infrastructure and individual attention.

Teachers and other stakeholders attribute drop in enrolments in the government schools to several factors, including lack of quality of education, infrastructure, and supervision besides required teaching staff.

Vacancies in the schools not being filled up timely resulted in several parents shifting their wards from the government to private schools for better career prospects.

“There are more than 6,500 schools that are functioning with a single teacher. Moreover, there is no proper monitoring mechanism besides basic facilities. How can parents impose faith in these government schools? Government must fill up vacancies ensuring a teacher for every class in the primary level,” said Chava Ravi, general secretary, TS UTF.

Ravi urged the School Education Department officials to identify teachers who are not performing their duties and initiate action against them in order to bring in quality in the school education.