Tadepalli: YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has flagged what he called “worrying developments” in Andhra Pradesh’s school education sector, pointing to a sharp fall in government-school enrollment between 2023-24 and 2025-26.
Citing official UDISE+ figures of the Union Education Ministry, Jagan said the number of students in government schools dropped from 40,50,116 in 2023-24 (the last year of the YSRCP government) to 34,93,450 in 2025-26—a decline of 5,56,666 students. In the same period, the number of government schools itself fell from about 45,000 to 44,222, while government-aided schools declined from 991 to 797.
YS Jagan contradicted this with the coalition government’s repeated claim that more than 1.10 lakh students had shifted from private schools into the government system, which it presented as proof of rising public confidence. “If 1.10 lakh students are really joining government schools from private schools, shouldn’t the total number of students in government schools increase?” he asked. “But the official statistics are completely opposite.”
Enrolment of students in Government schools fell from 40,50,116 in 2023-24 to 34,93,450 in 2025-26 .
During the same two-year window, enrolment in privately managed unaided recognised schools rose from 45,53,380 to 48,40,296 — an increase of nearly 2.87 lakh students.
“What the coalition government is saying is one thing; the facts revealed by the official statistics of the central government are another,” Jagan said. “These figures are a direct reflection of the plight of government schools in the state and the weakness of the government’s propaganda.”
He further alleged that the private education sector in Andhra Pradesh are dominated by large chains such as Narayana, Sri Chaitanya, Bhashyam, Vignan and Gitam and was benefiting from what he described as the deliberate weakening of the government school system, hurting children from poor and middle-class families who cannot afford private fees.
Recent incidents of a six year old dies after a teacher hit him and the death of a 12-year-old student after a school compound wall collapsed further strengthen his claim of government neglect of school education, bringing focus on the unfinished works related to Phase III of Nadu Nedu,
YS Jagan listed the reforms undertaken between 2019 and 2024:
- Mana Badi Nadu-Nedu: Infrastructure works in 56,703 educational institutions (government schools, welfare hostels and junior colleges), including furniture, drinking water, toilets, additional classrooms and other facilities. First phase covered 15,715 schools; second phase 22,344 schools; third phase was underway by June 2024. Total spend: ₹8,524 crore.
- Free tabs with digital content for Class 8 students and teachers.
- English-medium instruction from the primary level, bilingual textbooks and Oxford dictionaries.
- 62,000 Interactive Flat Panels in classrooms from Class 6 onwards and 45,000 smart TVs in primary schools.
- TOEFL training from Class 3 in partnership with ETS to improve spoken English and provide international certification.
- Steps to introduce the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, with teacher and staff capacity-building programmes.
“Our government took every step to make government schools comparable to corporate schools,” Jagan said. “But today, under the coalition government, the current trend is fewer government schools, declining enrollment, and rising private school numbers, as evidence that the coalition government’s priorities in education have shifted in the opposite direction.
He concluded that the UDISE+ numbers exposed a gap between the ruling alliance’s claims and the reality on the ground.
