Socio Economic Outlook: Telangana govt schools see steady rise in admissions

Owing to measures by authorities, State-run schools gain 6.3 per cent more admissions than their private counterparts.

Hyderabad: A series of measures that included improvement in infrastructure, making English as a medium of instruction, introduction of social-emotional learning and soft skills etc., in the government and local body schools have been yielding positive results in Telangana.

According to the Socio Economic Outlook 2023, enrolments in the government schools have been increasing considerably in the last three academic years.

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Given the measures initiated by the State government, in the academic year 2021-22, the government and local body schools gained 6.3 per cent more admissions from their private counterparts when compared to the previous year.

During the year 2021-22, the school enrolment stood at 62.29 lakh with 49.77 per cent of the enrolling children opting for government schools as against 43.47 per cent in the academic year 2020-21, and 42.91 per cent in 2019-20. On the other hand, admissions have been going south in private schools dropping from 57.09 per cent in 2019-20 to 56.53 per cent in 2020-21 and to 50.23 per cent in 2021-22.

As per the Socio Economic Outlook 2023, enrolment of boys was higher than that of girls by 2,04,983 in 2021-22. However, the share of girls’ enrollment has marginally gone up from 48.11 per cent in 2020-21 to 48.4 per cent in 2021-22.

During the academic year 2021-22, the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for primary schools stood at 112.1 for boys and 113 for girls. Similarly, it is 107.5 for boys and 105.5 for girls in the upper primary schools. As per UDISE 2021-22, the GER for primary schools in Telangana (112.5) is significantly higher than the national average (103.4).

The enrollments in the government and local body schools is expected to further rise in the coming years with the State government implementing ‘Mana Ooru-Mana Badi’ programme in the schools. The metamorphosis of these schools is taking place under 12 components, including toilets with running water facility, electrification, drinking water supply, furniture to students and staff, painting entire schools, green chalk boards, compound walls, kitchen sheds and implementation of digital education.

The programme covers 26,065 schools across the State in three phases for which an amount of Rs.7,289 crore is earmarked by the government. In the first phase, works were taken up in 9,123 schools at a cost of Rs.3,497 crore and works were completed in more than 1200 schools which were recently inaugurated.

Year-wise percentage enrolment in government and private schools:

Academic year      Government Schools          Private Schools

2019-20                         42.91                                        57.09

2020-21                         43.47                                        56.53

2021-22                         49.77                                        50.23

* English as a medium of instruction in all government schools from the academic year 2022-23

* Tholi Mettu launched to strengthen the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Skills across all Primary Grades

* Mana Ooru-Mana Badi/Mana Basti-Mana Badi initiated in January 2022 to upgrade infrastructure in 26,065 government schools

* Budget of Rs.7,289.54 crore approved for Mana Ooru-Mana Badi/Mana Basti-Mana Badi