Why did academics and activists sleep in Telangana schools? | Explainer

The story so far

The state of schools and teaching has been in the spotlight nationally. In Telangana, a collective of academics, bureaucrats and activists known as the Telangana People’s Front was on a 12-day tour of districts in the State to understand and highlight the state of schools called ‘Vidya Bus Yatra’. 

Why is this being done now?

Budgetary support for education has declined to a single-digit percentage of the State outlay and has remained so over the past decade. After the formation of the Congress government by A. Revanth Reddy, a Telangana Education Commission was formed under former IAS officer Akunuri Murali to suggest measures to improve the sector. After his two-year term with the commission expired, Mr. Murali quit the commission and has take up cudgels for reform and started the ‘Vidya Bus Yatra’.

Is there a road map for improving schools?

The Telangana Education Commission submitted a 354-page report after visiting 305 institutions over 14 months in all 33 districts. The report has four annexures that are draft Bills that lay out a clear map to reinforce and rebuild the education sector in Telangana. Also sketched out was a six-phase plan to upgrade the infrastructure at a total cost of ₹31,600 crores, staggered across five years. It also created a checklist on what constitutes a Telangana Foundation School.

A functioning model of the concept is Telangana Public School at Arutla, about 50 km from Hyderabad. The school is a pre-primary to Intermediate facility and offers English-medium education with airy classrooms, a playground, free transport, three meals a day, and sports facilities.

What the ‘Vidya Bus Yatra’ revealed?

Schools without compound walls. Taps without running water. Locked toilets or dysfunctional toilets. In Gattuguddenapalli village, the government school had fewer than 60 students, where the inspiration was a science and Telugu teacher, but one of the children wanted either salt or jaggery to be given to add taste to “Ragi java (millet broth)”.

What is ‘badi nidra’?

The members of Telangana People’s Front not only visited the schools but also slept in them at night to experience in real time the functioning of amenities in the schools. They discovered that Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data that is being updated almost daily for consideration of national ranking does not match the ground reality.

A drinking water tap may be in the school, but how often it functions is different. This is the same issue flagged by the UN report ‘Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools 2015-2025’. The UN report found that 50 million, or five crore, Indian children still lack access to sanitation service in their schools.

Is the infrastructure the only issue?

One of the academics who was part of the bus yatra says that mismanagement of resources with irrational deployment of staff is a big bugbear. “Some schools have excess classrooms, others without enough rooms. All are under the Education Department, but the head of each institution doesn’t want to share the barely functional infrastructure.”

There are schools with 10 teachers where the number of students is 60, and then there are other schools with 50 students and two teachers, where one of them is either on long leave or absent. In multi-grade classrooms, children don’t have space, and students sit in the verandahs,” she said.

What’s the road ahead?

The Telangana People’s Front wants to mobilise parents and society to force the government to act on its proposals to raise spending on education from the current 8.2% to 18%. Make government schools share resources like playgrounds, classrooms, labs, library facilities, etc. Currently, the government spends ₹1,10,00 on each student, according to an estimate. Once the resources are shared, facilities expanded then this cost will drop to ₹55,000, according to a TPF estimate.