Telangana government schools on life support as enrolment drops

Government schools in Telangana are witnessing a steep decline in enrolment, with only 26 per cent of students opting for them in 2024-25, down from 41 per cent in 2022-23. Parents are increasingly preferring private schools

Hyderabad: Government-run schools appear to be fast approaching a point of irrelevance, with more parents opting to admit their children to private institutions.

According to the UDISE Plus report for the academic year 2024-25, only 26 per cent of students enrolled in government schools, while 74 per cent children joined private institutions at Class X level in the State. This shift in enrolment paints a grim picture of public education in the State.

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However, this was not the situation a few years ago when the then BRS party was at the helm of affairs in the State. As per the report for 2022-23, during the BRS government rule, of the total admissions, Class I enrolment stood at 41 per cent in government and 59 per cent in private schools.

One of the main reasons for admissions in government schools was due to extensive admission drives besides initiatives like Mana Ooru – Mana Badi initiative that developed infrastructure in the government schools.

In the following academic year, as the new Congress government took power, government school enrolment dipped to 32 per cent, while private schools saw a corresponding rise to 68 per cent.

Overall, the statistics reveal a 14 per cent drop in Class I enrolments in government schools, with a corresponding increase in private school admissions in the State, in the last three academic years.

As per the report, a total of 6,62,134 children were admitted to Class I during the academic year 2024-25. Of the total, 3,76,866 children joined the same school where they had completed their pre-primary education.

While 1,76,038 students joined Class I in government primary schools, the majority i.e., 1,12,943 children came from Anganwadi centres. Only 19,539 (11 per cent) joined from government-run pre-primary schools. In private schools, 4,79,402 students enrolled at Class I and 3,53,393 kids transitioned from pre-primary education to Class I in the same school.

The problem was not limited to Class I but a similar pattern was observed in higher classes as well. An analysis of the report shows that government schools were more in number but attracted fewer students.