Telangana looking at pre-primary courses in next academic year
The official said the government would also study if there are any such similar models in other states.
The Telangana government is considering the introduction of pre-primary courses on par with private schools, including nursery, lower kindergarten and upper kindergarten, in all state-run schools from the academic year 2025-26, people familiar with the matter said.
Chief minister A Revanth Reddy mooted this proposal, while inaugurating the Young India Police School, at Manchirevula in Hyderabad on Thursday. At present, the state government schools have the classes from Class 1 to 10 and if the chief minister has his way, they would have nursery, LKG and UKG classes as well, before the commencement of the primary education.
A senior official of the school education department said the proposal was recommended recently by the state education commission headed by retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Akunuri Murali and comprising education experts, to address policy gaps in the state’s foundational education system.
The proposal was discussed at a high-level meeting convened by the chief minister with the department officials, including school education secretary Yogita Rana and director of school education Narasimha Reddy on Thursday.
“However, it will not be implemented in a hurry. In the first phase, the pre-primary sections will be introduced in one or two government schools in each of 594 mandals (revenue blocks) in the state as a pilot project from the upcoming academic year. If the response is good, the government will implement the plan across the state from the subsequent year,” the official said.
The official said the government would also study if there are any such similar models in other states. “In Andhra Pradesh, the previous YSR Congress party government in 2022 had introduced pre-primary sections in the government schools, but entrusted them to existing Anganwadi centres,” he said.
Speaking at the inauguration of Young India Police School, the chief minister said the decision to introduce pre-school courses in the government schools was prompted by ambiguities in the state’s primary education policy.
Revanth Reddy stressed the need for removal of the disparity between enrolment in private and government schools. “While the total strength of the students in 11,500 private schools is around 30 lakh students, the strength in 29,000-odd government schools is only 18.5 lakh,” he said.
He said the government schools only admit children aged five and above, whereas private institutions offer a continuous pre-school system beginning with nursery. “As a result, most parents opt for private schooling early on, as a result the enrolment of children in the government schools is less, as they offer education only from Class 1,” he said.
Stating that the educational qualifications of teachers in government schools is better than those in private institutions, Revanth Reddy said the government conducted a review to understand why these highly qualified teachers were unable to attract students to the government schools.
The chief minister said the government would also extend free transportation facility for children belonging to underprivileged sections to come to the schools to attend pre-primary classes.
The official quoted above said the proposal is still in its nascent stage. “We need to address several issues, like creation of infrastructure for pre-primary classes, recruitment of teachers and formation of syllabus,” he added.
