125 Experts Urge CM Revanth Reddy to Stop Telangana School Rationalisation Plan

In Hyderabad, a group of 125 experts, including retired judges, educationists, writers, journalists, and teachers, have written an open letter to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy urging the state government to withdraw its proposed school rationalisation exercise. The signatories warned that the policy would disproportionately harm children from poor, Dalit, and Adivasi families, particularly girls, by making schools inaccessible and increasing dropout rates.

According to the open letter, the proposed rationalisation exercise seeks to drastically reduce the number of government schools across Telangana from 27,000 to just 4,000. Under the plan, the state government intends to close down public schools that do not have a specified minimum number of students on their rolls.

The signatories cautioned that if the Congress-led state government pushes ahead with this 'rationalisation' exercise, as many as 8,769 out of Telangana’s 12,769 gram panchayats will be left without a single government school. They argued that such a move would run directly contrary to the spirit of the Right to Education Act.

The letter further alleged that the proposal contradicts the Congress party's election promise to strengthen public education in the state. During the election campaign, the party had promised to reopen around 6,000 schools that were closed by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government.

According to the experts, only 34 percent of children in Telangana currently study in government schools. The signatories attributed this low enrollment rate to existing deficiencies in the public education system, specifically pointing to weak monitoring, teacher shortages, and inadequate infrastructure. Rather than closing schools, the group urged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to address these root causes and withdraw the rationalisation plan entirely.