KTR’s Comments Spark Debate on Telangana Colleges After 10 Years of BRS Rule
KTR’s remarks on Telangana’s college standards have sparked scrutiny of BRS’s 10-year rule, highlighting low education spending, faculty shortages, and persistent school system issues.
Dumtika Editorial
August 16, 2026 · 1 min read
(Image: Dumtika Editorial)
KTR’s comments raise questions on Telangana’s education quality after BRS rule.
State education spending was 7.6% of total expenditure in 2023-24, below national average.
Kakatiya University had over 300 faculty vacancies by September 2023.
Thousands of Telangana schools had zero enrolment or only one teacher in recent years.
K.T. Rama Rao’s recent comments about the quality of colleges in Telangana have reignited questions about the state’s education system during the decade-long rule of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) from 2014 to 2023. Responding to his daughter’s query about why she couldn’t pursue higher studies in Telangana, KTR acknowledged the lack of top-tier institutions, calling it a "reality." This admission has prompted many to examine what the BRS government achieved in education over its tenure.
Budget data reveals that by 2023-24, Telangana allocated just 7.6% of its total expenditure to education, far below the national average of 14.8%. Studies by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies and the Telangana Council of Higher Education show that between 2014-15 and 2020-21, the state’s education spending averaged only about 2% of its GSDP. The share of education in the total budget, initially around 15-16%, dropped to 11-12% by 2020-21.
Universities in Telangana, such as Kakatiya University, faced severe faculty shortages. As of September 2023, 323 out of 409 regular teaching posts at Kakatiya University were vacant, forcing reliance on contract and temporary staff. Regular recruitment had not occurred for nearly a decade, undermining the university’s ability to compete globally.
The school system also faced structural issues. In 2023-24, Telangana reported 2,097 schools with zero enrolment and 5,835 single-teacher schools, among the highest in India. These figures suggest declining public confidence and uneven teacher deployment, with some schools lacking students and others operating with only one teacher. The latest data for 2024-25 shows these problems persist, with 2,245 zero-enrolment schools and 5,001 single-teacher schools.
