Telangana to replace 55-year-old Intermediate system with Classes XI and XII from 2027-28

Telangana government has approved the merger of its 55-year-old intermediate education system with the School Education Department from 2027-28. The new structure will introduce Classes XI and XII, ending a system that has shaped generations of students but also faced repeated controversies.

Hyderabad: Lakhs of students passed through portals of the Board of Intermediate Education and entered the higher education system after cracking entrance examinations such as JEE (earlier AIEEE), EAPCET (earlier EAMCET) and NEET. However, now the 55-year-old intermediate education system, which shaped the lives of lakhs of students, is set to cease from the next academic year in Telangana.

The Telangana Congress government on Wednesday approved the merger of the intermediate education system with the School Education department. It decided to introduce the Class XI and XII education system from the academic year 2027-28. With this decision, the school education system will be restructured into primary, upper primary, secondary and senior education, covering nursery to Class IV, Classes V to VIII, and Classes IX to XII respectively.

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The intermediate education system, a brainchild of former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, who as the State Education Minister introduced in the academic year 1969-70, as part of the 10 2 3 system in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh State. This had been done based on the recommendations of the Kothari Commission. Subsequently, the Andhra Pradesh Board of Intermediate Education came into being in 1971. Post bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Telangana constituted its own Board of Intermediate Education and continued the intermediate education system.
For more than half a century, the Board played a key role in shaping the lives of students by serving a bridge between the intermediate and higher education system. After the SSC Examinations, this system paved the way for choosing specialised streams such as MPC, BiPC, MEC, CEC and HEC, providing a foundation for further professional education.

However, it was involved in controversies, including examination security and question paper leak. In 1997, intermediate examinations question papers leak was reported for the first time. Four years later, the Board faced allegations of irregularities in selecting textbooks for the first-year intermediate courses and awarding printing rights to private publishers.

In 2010 and 2011, controversy surfaced over evaluation errors and award of incorrect marks. Further, in April 2019, large-scale protests erupted across the State as several students were marked absent despite appearing for examinations. Some students received incorrect or low marks. In fact, several students died by suicide as they failed in exams. The inquiry conducted by the government revealed issues in the software for processing exams results, leading to errors.