Hyderabad: The shutdown of multiple govt schools in the state sparked a vigorous discussion in the Telangana Assembly on Tuesday, as the BRS and Congress exchanged accusations. Former minister and BRS MLA P Sabitha Indra Reddy questioned the Congress govt why 3 lakh students dropped from govt schools in one year at the same time 6 lakh students increased in private school.
During the discussion on accounts for education department, she said, “These numbers are not given by me, socio economic outlook for two years have noted these figures, govt should look into this”. She also questioned the Congress govt’s failure to fulfil its promise of reopening schools shut under the previous regime.
“The Congress which repeatedly accused the BRS of closing 6,000 schools, has itself shut down 1,913 schools citing zero enrolment and another 400 due to teacher rationalization,” she said, demanding clarity on how many schools were reopened after the Congress came to power.
She also pointed out that 257 gram panchayats lack govt schools, despite a policy mandate. Raising concerns over declining student enrolment, she cited the govt’s own Socio-Economic Survey, which showed a drop from 23 lakh to 19 lakh students in govt schools, while private school enrolment increased from 31 lakh to 36 lakh.
Raising concerns about teacher recruitment, Sabitha Indra Reddy criticised the govt for issuing a notification for only 11,000 teacher posts, despite earlier claims of 25,000 vacancies. She took a dig at chief minister A Revanth Reddy over unfulfilled promises, recalling his statement that he would resolve Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya teachers’ issues within the time it takes to sip tea. “I wonder whether the chief minister stopped drinking tea,” she remarked.
She also reminded that Revanth Reddy was not the chief minister for his Kodangal constituency alone, but for Telangana. Citing the Congress’ allegations over the development of Gajwel, Sircilla and Siddipet, she stated that Revanth Reddy took up recruitment of Vidya volunteers in his constituency, but ignored the rest of the State.
Legislative affairs minister D Sridhar Babu defended the govt, stating that education and health remained top priorities. “We have already reopened 79 schools shut under BRS, but rebuilding the system will take time,” he said.
However, BRS leader T Harish Rao challenged Sridhar Babu’s claim that the previous govt failed to recruit teachers. “Under BRS, we appointed 26,000 teachers i.e. 8,000 through TGPSC and 18,000 for Gurukul schools,” he countered. He said the minister was evading the issue of school closures under Congress rule.
