Telangana private schools dump State Board for CBSE

In Telangana, 113 private schools have switched from the State syllabus to CBSE over the past five years. Demand is driven by competitive exam alignment, flexible curriculum, and skill-based electives. ICSE/IGCSE and IB-affiliated schools also show growth.

Hyderabad: Private schools in Telangana are increasingly dumping the State curriculum for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

As per the information available with the Education department, as many as 113 private schools ditched the State curriculum for the CBSE in the last five academic years.

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The number of private unaided schools with affiliation to the CBSE increased from 354 in 2021-22 to 467 in the academic year 2025-26, with an annual average of 20 private schools opting CBSE curriculum.

According to the Education Department officials, these private schools were initially granted permission and recognition under the State Board. However, after operating for a few academic years under the State Board framework, these schools obtained affiliation from the CBSE.

Demand from parents is one of the driving forces behind this shift. The management pointed out that the CBSE curriculum is dynamic and offers flexibility to students, unlike the State Board curriculum, which has a rigid system with three languages and three subject policies.

“There is a demand for CBSE curriculum as it is well planned and updated every year, keeping pace with changes, apart from offering a large number of skill-based courses as electives, including coding and AI, which is not there in the State curriculum,” said Sadula Madusudhan, president, Telangana Recognised School Managements Association.

Another reason for this shift is due to competitive entrance examinations such as JEE and NEET UG being based on the NCERT syllabus followed by the CBSE. “So, some private schools are shifting to the CBSE. However, the majority of the private schools in Telangana are affiliated to the State Board only,” said Yadagiri Shekhar Rao, honourary president, Telangana Recognised School Managements Association.

The number of private schools offering ICSE/IGCSE syllabus went up from 36 in 2021-22 to 47 in 2025-26. Similarly, private schools with IB curriculum increased from zero in 2021-22 to 22 in 2025-26.