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Telangana lags behind several major states in the proportion of professionally qualified high school teachers, according to the Union Education Ministry’s Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE) 2025–26 report.
The data shows that while the state has maintained stable teacher qualification levels at the primary stage, the share of professionally qualified teachers declines significantly at higher levels of schooling.
At the secondary level (Classes 9 and 10), 95.8% of teachers in Telangana are professionally qualified. This includes 96.9% of male teachers and 94.9% of female teachers.
The situation however worsens at the higher secondary level (Classes 11 and 12), where the overall proportion of professionally qualified teachers drops to 70.0%. Among male teachers, the figure falls to 64.3%, while 76.1% of female teachers are professionally qualified.
By comparison, Tamil Nadu reports that 97.7% of its higher secondary teachers are professionally qualified, followed by West Bengal at 96.8% and Maharashtra at 96.3%, underscoring Telangana’s gap in teacher preparedness at the senior secondary stage.
The report also highlights concerns over student retention in Telangana. While the state records a 100% cumulative retention rate from Classes 1 to 8, the figure drops sharply to 63.0% from Class 1 to Class 12.
The decline is particularly pronounced among boys. The cumulative retention rate from Classes 1 to 12 stands at 58.4% for boys, compared with 68.0% for girls, indicating that nearly 42% of boys leave the school system before completing Class 12. In comparison, Tamil Nadu records an overall Class 1–12 retention rate of 75.9%, while Punjab reports 67.1%.
The UDISE report also flags shortcomings in inclusive school infrastructure. Only 11.3% of schools in Telangana have functional toilets for Children with Special Needs (CWSN). The situation is worse in government schools, where just 7.1% provide the facility.
In contrast, 74.2% of schools in Tamil Nadu have CWSN-friendly toilets, compared with 68.4% in Odisha and 60.0% in Punjab, placing Telangana among the poorer-performing states on this indicator.