Telangana Education Policy 2026: Enrolment Up, Quality in Crisis
Policy flags faculty shortages, weak governance in colleges
Hyderabad: Telangana’s gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education has reached 40 per cent, well above the national average of 28.4 per cent, the Telangana Education Policy 2026 released on Thursday said. The transition rate from senior secondary school to college stood at 39.1 per cent, compared to 28.3 per cent nationally.
The gender parity index stood at 1.8 — meaning that there were about 180 girl students to every 100 boys — against the national figure of 1:01 to 1:05 according to All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021-22
Yet the report made it clear that higher participation had not translated into stronger institutions. About 80 per cent of colleges in Telangana were in the private unaided sector, and they accounted for 75 per cent of total enrolment. The commission recorded that public universities and colleges were affected by poor infrastructure and largescale vacancies in faculty positions, while many private institutions operated with uneven standards.
It recalled that after state formation in 2014, public universities such as Osmania and Kakatiya faced delayed vice chancellor appointments, dissolution of executive councils and a freeze on recruitment, which severely reduced regular teaching faculty. This led to disruption of academic calendars, reliance on temporary faculty and an administrative drift.
The policy questioned the viability of residential undergraduate degree colleges, recommending that the residential model be discontinued as it limited students’ access to urban resources, internships and job ecosystems.
The commission stated that the priority must now move from expansion to quality, calling for restoration of university governance structures, filling of faculty vacancies and enforcement of academic standards. Without these steps, it cautioned, Telangana’s strong enrolment numbers may not sustain long term credibility.
Strikingly, the policy pointed to the imbalance between regulation and outcomes. Even though higher education institutions were governed by multiple national regulators and accreditation frameworks such as the University Grants Commission, National Assessment and Accreditation Council and National Institutional Ranking Framework, the commission observed that standards on paper had not ensured consistent academic quality on the ground.
The gap between compliance and classroom experience, the commission suggested, was widening, raising questions about whether regulatory oversight was translating into meaningful learning, research output and graduate employability.
