Revanth Reddy must withdraw his statements regarding school closures: TSEC

Telangana Rescue Education Committee (TSEC) leader G. Haragopal on Saturday said that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s statements to close schools in villages and hamlets and merge 27,000 schools into 4,000 schools are extremely unfortunate.

He said it was essential to have a government school in every village to build a humane and inclusive society and requested Mr. Reddy to immediately retract his statements.

Mr Reddy made the following statement: Hindu The Huddle 2026 pitch, held in Bengaluru last week, sparked criticism from various stakeholders.

They argued that the government should instead allocate 20% of its budget to the education sector to improve all public schools in the state and ensure the provision of quality, equitable and free education to all.

The demands were expressed at the roundtable meeting organized by TSEC on Saturday and attended by educators, teachers, students and representatives of non-governmental organizations.

Speaking at the event, MLC M. Kodandaram said the government’s move to close schools was inappropriate and the Prime Minister should reconsider his suggestions while promising support to TSEC in protecting schools.

Professor M. Sridhar Acharyulu of Mahindra University said the announcement of closure of 23,000 schools violated the Constitution and the Right to Education Act. He noted that the situation now requires a struggle to protect the Constitution as well as the protection of education.

At the meeting, the committee’s general secretary K. Lakshminarayana announced an action plan and said that memorandums would be presented to all public representatives in the state between June 20 and July 15. He added that roundtable meetings will be held in each district to discuss concerns.

Leaders of CPI(M), CPI(ML), CPI(ML) New Democracy, Arunodaya Cultural Federation, Dalit Bahujan Front, Vidyavantula Vedika, MV Foundation, State Teachers Union, United Federation of Teachers, Telangana People’s Joint Action Committee, Telangana Progressive Teachers’ Federation, Democratic Teachers’ Federation and various student unions were present.