The Telangana Education Commission was established in September 2024 with a mandate to study, formulate, and recommend a comprehensive policy framework for reforming and strengthening education in Telangana. The four-member Commission submitted its report in January 2026, completing the task in a relatively short span of 16 months. The report identifies the several systemic deficiencies in the Telangana’s education sector, and many of its findings corroborate the concerns highlighted by both official and unofficial surveys.
The longest chapter of the report is devoted to school education, and understandably so. Among the key recommendations are the establishment of state-run pre-primary schools and their integration into the formal school system; the creation of Telangana Public Schools (TPS) in place of caste- and community-based schools; the universalisation of English-medium instruction; a gradual shift towards neighbourhood schools rather than further expansion of the residential school model; and strict enforcement of the Right to Education Act’s provision reserving 25 per cent of seats in private schools for disadvantaged students.
In Intermediate and undergraduate education, the report recommends merging the SSC Board and the Board of Intermediate Education and bringing Intermediate education within the ambit of school education. It also proposes discontinuing public examinations for Intermediate first year (Class XI), abolishing EAPCET and using strengthened Intermediate public examination marks as the basis for undergraduate admissions, and extending mid-day meals to students in government junior colleges. At the undergraduate level, it recommends the discontinuation of residential degree colleges, and a decisive shift from quantitative expansion to qualitative consolidation.
Since university education is largely regulated by UGC norms, the report devotes comparatively less attention to that sector, apart from highlighting the acute shortage of regular faculty afflicting the foundations of higher education institutions, and recommending administrative and governance reforms.
A welcome step
Given the neglect that education — particularly higher education — has suffered over the past decade, the establishment of the Commission was itself a welcome step. Yet the 350-page report presents a mixed picture, combining several significant recommendations with a number of questionable assumptions and conclusions.
Three broad themes run through the report: a stronger role for the state in education, decentralisation of governance and resources, and the reaffirmation of education as a public good. These are indeed worthy objectives, provided the government’s intervention is guided by a broad and enlightened understanding of education.
It is precisely in this regard that the report is disappointing. Education is viewed predominantly as a means of enhancing employability, leading to an excessive emphasis on skill development, labour-market needs, and employment outcomes. While gainful employment is undoubtedly a desirable outcome, it cannot be the sole purpose of education.
Educational institutions should serve a higher purpose than merely produce workers for the job market. They must cultivate informed citizenship, critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and intellectual curiosity. Moreover, in a rapidly changing economy, designing educational programmes primarily around current market demands may prove both limiting and counterproductive.
Multilingual education
Another weakness of the report is its flawed equation of proficiency in English with English-medium instruction (EMI). English-medium education is presented as a panacea for a range of social and educational ills. In doing so, the report ignores substantial research supporting mother tongue-based multilingual education, especially in early years of schooling.
Besides the observations of National Education Policy 2020, the report itself acknowledges that children’s cognitive, emotional, and social capacities are most acute and absorptive in the first six years of life.
It is therefore difficult to see how instruction in a language other than the child’s mother tongue can foster these capacities as effectively during this crucial stage of development.
Overall, the Telangana Education Commission’s report provides an opportunity to engage with a vital but long-neglected social sector. However, the government’s vacillation over the Commission’s recommendations and its decision to appoint another committee to review the report have created uncertainty about its future.
Despite occasional instances of excessive administrative detail — such as prescribing colours for grouping school students — and some questionable observations — including about the “very high” salaries of teachers — the report remains an important document. Its most valuable contribution lies not in offering a definitive blueprint for reform but in providing a foundation for informed public debate on the future of education in Telangana.