Telangana Education Commission calls for trimming teachers’ pay, ending EAPCET

The Telangana Education Commission has recommended reviewing teacher salaries, adopting English as the primary medium of instruction, discontinuing EAPCET and NEET, merging SSC and Inter boards, and reforming promotions to enhance quality education and student welfare in the State

Hyderabad: Are the pay packets of government teachers, faculty and non-teaching employees so bulky that they need to be trimmed?

So believes the Telangana Education Commission while calling for a review and rationalisation of their pay structures.

---

In its ‘Education Policy for Telangana’ submitted to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday, the Commission stated, “It is observed that the salaries of permanent teachers, faculty, and non-teaching employees are relatively very high when compared with prevailing market benchmarks.”

The Commission, chaired by Akunuri Murali with Prof PL Visweshwar Rao, Dr Charakonda Venkatesh and Jyotsna Shiva Reddy as members, goes on to state, “In future staff recruitments, it may be prudent to review and rationalise these structures so that adequate budgetary space is available for non-salary expenditures, which are essential for improving the quality of education and enhancing student well-being.”

The State’s overall fiscal capacity necessitates a balanced approach to manage expenditures on salaries, allowances, and pensions of government employees, including those in the education sector. If left unaddressed, existing cost structures could pose constraints on the future expansion and strengthening of public education, it said.

English medium

In the report, the Telangana Education Commission also recommended that English be adopted as the medium of instruction across all levels of education in the State, from Nursery to Postgraduate studies. “Where necessary, teachers may use the mother tongue solely as a support for explanation at the primary level to facilitate student comprehension,” it added.

Discontinuation of EAPCET

In another section of the voluminous report, the Commission touched upon the ills in relation to competitive exam coaching culture on the mental health of students. It recommended discontinuing the EAPCET and making Intermediate second year marks the basis for admission to engineering, science, agriculture and pharmacy colleges in all State universities of Telangana, including their affiliated colleges.

Even admissions for medical courses should be based on the Intermediate (Class 12) marks. The Telangana government should strongly advocate with the Government of India for cancellation of NEET, it suggested.

Merger of SSC and Inter Boards

The Telangana Education Commission also recommended the merger of SSC Board and Board of Intermediate Education into a single board. For this, it pointed out that the Ministry of Education, Government of India, in June 2025 had recommended that every State should constitute a common board for classes 10 and 12 in the interest of improved academic outcomes and for ease of administration.

Promotions

Another recommendation pertained to discontinuation of automatic promotion pathways for primary school teachers, high school teachers, and headmasters.

The Commission suggested that primary school teachers aspiring to move to high school teaching positions should be required to apply afresh through a prescribed recruitment process and shall be granted an additional 10 per cent weightage in marks, without any relaxation in prescribed educational qualifications.