While India added teachers, Telangana lost nearly 7,400 of them in a decade amid rising student enrolments

Just after a decade of creation of a separate Telangana, that was backed by university student protests, the State has fewer teachers employed in higher education, data from All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2023-24 shows.

91,932 teachers to 84,568

This at a time when nationally, the number of teachers in higher education has gone up. At the time of the formation of Telangana there were 91,932 teachers in the State in the higher education system. Now, the number has dropped to 84,568. Or, nearly 7,400 fewer teachers marking a dip of 8%. While nationally, there has been a rise in number of teachers by 17.6%. 

Even teachers employed on contract basis, known as temporary teachers, has seen a similar 10% drop from 3250 to 2907 in 2023-24.

The contrast in current faculty positions based on gender is even more stark for the State. The number of male teachers has seen a 21.6% drop from 59,146 to 46,360. The number of female teachers has however gone up by 16.5% from 32,786 to 38,208.

Drop in number of colleges

The drop in number of teachers has been accompanied by a sharp drop in number of colleges. In 2014-15, Telangana had the highest density of colleges in India at 60 per lakh (population of 18-23). Now it has slid to second position at 56 per lakh, just behind Karnataka.

The number of colleges has dropped from 2,450 in 2014-15 to 2,160 in 2023-24, a sharp drop of 11.8% in a State where the population of the young people aspiring to pursue higher education has gone up.

Growth in Gross Enrolment Ratio

This drop in number of teachers and colleges has been accompanied by a healthy growth in Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education from 36.1 to 46.6, a jump of 29.1%.

Higher pupil-teacher ratio

This rise in GER and drop in number of teachers has skewed thepupil-teacher ratio. While at the time of formation of the State, Telangana had a PTR of 14:1, in 2023-24 it is 17:1. A lower ratio is considered a good index of quality of higher education with each teacher being able to better focus on the pupils.

The number of students enrolled in the State has gone up from 14,79,088 to 17,87,460, a jump of 20.8%. This enrolment is across the sector growth with Ph. D. candidates nearly doubling from 4,596 in 2014-15 to 9,347 in 2023-24. The students pursuing undergraduate courses has gone up by 21.2% from 11.80 lakhs to 14.31 lakhs, while that of the students pursuing P.G. has gone up by 16% from 2.1 lakh to 2.4 lakhs.

The one bright spot in the dismal picture is the number of students who are currently able to stay away from home and study in hostels. In 2014-15 there were 1,27,511 resident scholars pursuing higher education in Telangana, that number has now reached 2,45,113 or a 92% growth.