Andhra govt school enrolment 'drops' despite claims of student shift from pvt schools: Jagan Mohan Reddy

AMRAVATI: YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday alleged that government school enrolment in Andhra Pradesh has declined sharply, with Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus data for 2025-26 contradicting the government's claim that over 1.1 lakh students have shifted from private to state-run schools. However, there was no immediate reaction from the ruling TDP.

The former chief minister said in a comparison of UDISE Plus data of the Ministry of Education for 2023-24, the last year of the previous YSRCP government, and 2025-26 revealed a drop in enrolment, particularly in government schools.

"UDISE Plus data for 2025-26 clearly contradicts the state government's claim that more than 1.1 lakh students shifted from private schools to government schools, as government school enrolment has in fact declined sharply," said Jagan in a post on X.

According to him, if government schools had actually experienced such a large influx of students, their overall enrolment should have increased. The opposition party leader said the government school enrolment fell from 40,50,116 in 2023-24 to 34,93,450 in 2025-26, a decline of over 5.5 lakh students.

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During the same period, the number of government schools came down from 45,000 to 44,222, while government-aided schools declined from 991 to 797. On the other hand, enrolment in schools under private management schools increased from 45,53,380 in 2023-24 to 48,40,296 in 2025-26, he claimed.

Jagan said enrolment in government and government-aided schools has declined while private school enrolment increased, which highlighted the plight of government schools in Andhra Pradesh and proved the state government's claim incorrect. He alleged that the private education sector in Andhra Pradesh was dominated by several major private educational institutions and claimed that the government maintained close ties with them.

Jagan alleged that the government was therefore undermining education in the government sector to foster the growth of private educational institutions. He said the statistics indicated a "very worrisome trend" of quality education being made inaccessible to students who could not afford private schools.

According to him, the previous YSRCP government between 2019 and 2024 had undertaken several reforms to transform government school education and substantially improve the education system.

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'Over 56,000 govt schools' infrastructure modernised'

Under the (YSRCP government's) Mana Badi-Nadu Nedu initiative, infrastructure was modernised in 56,703 government schools, welfare hostels and junior colleges, including improvements in furniture, drinking water, sanitation and classrooms, he said.

English was made the medium of instruction from the primary level, while bilingual textbooks and Oxford dictionaries were provided to all students to help them compete in the global arena, said the former CM.

Further, 62,000 interactive flat panels were installed in every classroom from Class 6 onwards to promote digital education, while 45,000 smart TVs were installed in every school having Classes 1 to 5, said Jagan.

He said Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was introduced as a subject from Class 3 onwards to help students develop spoken English skills, and an MoU was signed with American Educational Testing Service (ETS) to provide international certification for TOEFL.

Jagan said another major reform was initiated to enable students to compete and succeed globally, with plans to introduce the International Baccalaureate (IB) system.