Telangana’s education spending under BRS was half the state average

Telangana allocated 7.6% of its total expenditure to education in the 2023-24 Budget, barely half the average of 14.8% among Indian states, according to a report by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies and the Telangana Council of Higher Education. The report also found that the state's education spending as a share of GSDP averaged around 2% between 2014-15 and 2020-21, below the national average on all key measures examined.

The debate was triggered by KTR's comment that his daughter questioned whether India has colleges comparable to the US, which telugu360.com says invites scrutiny of the BRS government's 2014-2023 record. Kakatiya University had 323 of 409 regular teaching posts vacant by September 2023, with no regular recruitment for roughly a decade. The school system had 2,097 zero-enrolment schools in 2023-24, the third-highest in India, and 5,835 single-teacher schools. Teacher recruitment for 5,089 posts was finally permitted in August 2023, months before the Assembly election, and later expanded to 11,062 posts in February 2024.

The 2024-25 UDISE+ figures show 2,245 zero-enrolment schools and 5,001 single-teacher schools in Telangana, indicating the structural challenge the current government inherited.