Telangana higher education sees 8 pc drop in teachers since 2014

The decline is concentrated among male teachers, whose numbers fell 21.6 percent, from 59,146 to 46,360.

Hyderabad: Telangana’s higher education system employed 84,568 teachers in 2023-24, a decline of 8 percent from the 91,932 teachers on record in 2014-15, according to data from the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2023-24.

The drop stands in contrast to the national trend, where the number of teachers in higher education rose 17.6 percent over the same period. Temporary and contract teaching posts in the state fell at a comparable rate, declining 10 percent, from 3,250 to 2,907.

According to a report by The Hindu, the decline is concentrated among male teachers, whose numbers fell 21.6 percent, from 59,146 to 46,360. The number of female teachers rose 16.5 percent, from 32,786 to 38,208, over the same period.

The reduction in teaching staff has been accompanied by a fall in the number of colleges. Telangana had 2,450 colleges in 2014-15; the figure now stands at 2,160, a decline of 11.8 percent. The state’s college density has fallen from the highest in the country, at 60 colleges per lakh of the population aged 18-23, to second place at 56 per lakh, behind Karnataka.

The contraction in teaching capacity and college numbers has occurred alongside sustained growth in demand for higher education. Student enrolment in the state rose 20.8 percent, from 14,79,088 to 17,87,460. The Gross Enrolment Ratio increased from 36.1 to 46.6, a rise of 29.1 percent, placing Telangana among the states with the highest GER, after Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand.

The combined effect of fewer teachers and higher enrolment has been an increase in the pupil-teacher ratio, from 14:1 in 2014-15 to 17:1 in 2023-24. A lower ratio is generally considered an indicator of higher quality in higher education, as it allows teachers to devote more attention to each student.

Enrolment growth has occurred across levels of study. The number of PhD candidates in the state has nearly doubled, from 4,596 to 9,347. Undergraduate enrolment rose 21.2 percent, from 11.80 lakh to 14.31 lakh, while postgraduate enrolment increased 16 percent, from 2.1 lakh to 2.4 lakh.

One indicator has moved favourably: the number of students residing in hostels while pursuing higher education rose from 1,27,511 in 2014-15 to 2,45,113 in 2023-24, an increase of 92 percent.