Telangana government schools see sharp enrolment decline

Telangana government and local body schools are facing a worrying enrolment decline, with 75 per cent having 100 or fewer students. Department data shows admissions fell by over 1.25 lakh, while teachers cite infrastructure gaps, staff shortages and administrative duties.

Hyderabad: Even as Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who also holds the Education Department portfolio, claims that enrolments in Telangana government and local body schools went up during the academic year 2025-26, the statistics from his own department reveal a worrisome trend.

The statistics released by the Education Department reveal that 17,414 (75 per cent) out of 23,198 government and local body schools in the State had up to 100 or fewer admissions, reflecting poor enrolment.

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Another worrying aspect was that 7,629 schools had only 1 to 30 students. Of these, a staggering 7,469 were elementary schools and 160 secondary schools. There were enrolments between 31 and 100 in 9,785 schools, with 7,959 at elementary level and 1,826 at secondary level.

As per the details, out of the total 17,702 elementary schools, 7,469 had between 1 and 30 students and 7,959 recorded admissions between 31 and 100. This meant that a total of 15,428 schools had fewer than 100 students. Only six per cent of the total schools recorded high enrolment, with 1,469 schools recording between 251 and 1,000 students, and only 28 schools had more than 1,000 students.

Overall, admissions came down by 1.25 lakh during the academic year 2025-26, with 9,03,556 enrolments registering as against 9,77,864 in 2024-25 at the primary level. Similarly, upper primary schools’ admissions decreased from 5,97,345 in 2024-25 to 5,24,124 in 2025-26. Overall, 14,49,608 admissions were recorded in comparison to 15,75,209 in 2024-25.

Low enrolments in these schools are attributed to parents losing trust in the public education system and sending their wards to private schools. Inconsistent classroom teaching patterns also compounded the issue.

Teachers for a long time have been raising concerns over sidelining classroom teaching as the government has been assigning them to administrative tasks besides assigning them to regular training activities.

Lack of one teacher for every class, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient resources, and absence of supervision of teachers and schools were among other key factors also attributed to declining admissions in the State.