Academics and activists tour Telangana schools to highlight the state of education

Academics, bureaucrats and activists from a group called the Telangana People's Front recently completed a 12-day tour of school districts in Telangana named 'Vidya Bus Yatra'. Members of the group visited various schools and even slept in them at night to see the real-time condition of basic facilities. The group found that official data uploaded daily for national rankings often does not match the actual ground situation.

Background

Budget support for education in the State has dropped to a single-digit percentage over the past ten years and currently stands at 8.2%. After the Congress government came to power under Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, a Telangana Education Commission was set up under former IAS officer Akunuri Murali to suggest ways to improve the sector. After his two-year term ended, Mr. Murali quit the commission and started the bus yatra to push for reform. The commission had earlier submitted a 354-page report based on visits to 305 institutions across all 33 districts over 14 months, which included a six-phase plan to upgrade infrastructure at a total cost of 31,600 crore rupees over five years.

Findings

The yatra highlighted severe infrastructure gaps, such as schools missing compound walls, taps without running water, and locked or broken toilets. In one village school with fewer than 60 students, a child asked for salt or jaggery to add taste to the millet broth known as Ragi java. The tour members also noted major resource mismanagement, with some schools having excess classrooms and ten teachers for 60 students, while other locations had only two teachers for 50 students with staff often absent or on long leave.

Demands

The Telangana People's Front aims to mobilize parents and society to pressure the government into acting on reform proposals. The group wants state spending on education raised from 8.2% to 18%. They also suggest sharing facilities like playgrounds, labs and libraries between institutions to lower the estimated per-student cost from 1,10,000 rupees down to 55,000 rupees.

Context

State education systems across India often face severe challenges related to funding, teacher deployment, and basic infrastructure maintenance. Reports from national and international bodies frequently highlight gaps in school sanitation and drinking water access across the country. Public campaigns by civil society groups are common methods used to draw attention to these long-standing systemic issues.