SIO demands Telangana govt to allocate 20% of 2026-27 budget to education sector

Ahead of the budget session 2026-27 in the Telangana Legislative Assembly, the Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) on Thursday (March 5, 2026) called for greater public investment in education and demanded that 20% of the State budget be allocated to the sector.

Speaking to the media, Mohammed Faraz Ahmed, SIO’s Telangana president, said the organisation would approach lawmakers and government officials to place demands and discuss the present state of education in Telangana. While acknowledging that the government’s involvement in the education sector was significant, he said the quality of education remained a serious concern.

Citing ASER reports, he said nearly 50% of students in Classes VI and VIII were unable to read texts meant for Class II, which he said laid bare the condition of school education.

Mr. Ahmed said that after an analysis of budgetary allocation and spending, it was found that around 80% of the education budget was being spent on salaries. While stating that salaries were important, he said a proportionate share of funds should also be allocated for improving the quality of education through teacher training and better infrastructure.

He claimed that the Right to Education (RTE) Act was not being implemented in Telangana and demanded that it be enforced in its “letter and spirit”. Proper implementation, he said, could enable around 90,000 such students to study in private schools.

Mr. Ahmed also raised concerns relating to the Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutions Society (TMREIS) and demanded a sub-plan and a budget for these schools and colleges could be carved out from it. He further sought the introduction of a non-residential component under TMREIS to widen access to education.

The SIO raised serious concerns over the delay in fee reimbursement under the Tuition Fee Reimbursement (RTF) and Maintenance Fee (MTF) heads. The delay, they said, constinues to affect thousands of students across Telangana. The organisation demanded that the government immediately release pending scholarship and develop a mechanism which is time-bound so as to disburse these scholarships.

In addition to this, they demanded that DSC recruitment be expedited, even as they demanded that teacher vacancies be filled up. The SIO highlighted the backlog of Urdu medium teaching posts. “In the DSC-2024 notification, 1,183 Urdu medium posts were announced but only 517 are being filled, leaving 666 posts vacant, depriving thousands of Urdu medium students of adequate teaching staff,” the said.