Telangana to fold Intermediate into schools, bring in 10+2 system from next year; lecturers threaten protest

Telangana will merge its Intermediate education system into school education and introduce a school structure running up to Class 12 from the next academic year, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said on Wednesday, 11 November. The move would end the separate junior college stage that the state inherited from undivided Andhra Pradesh.

The Chief Minister gave the direction at a review meeting of the Education Department at the MCR HRD Institute in Hyderabad. Under the new structure, nursery to Class 4 will be the primary stage, Classes 5 to 8 the secondary stage, and Classes 9 to 12 the senior secondary stage.

The government's reasoning

Reddy said that on average about 40 per cent of students leave education after Class 10, most of them girls and children from Dalit, tribal and minority communities. He pointed out that Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, which run up to Class 12, see far fewer dropouts, and said 18 states already follow a school-till-Class-12 model.

Earlier this year the government had put off the merger for the 2026-27 academic year, citing a lack of time and technical issues. The Chief Minister has now said employees will not face difficulties, and that the jobs and retirement benefits of junior college lecturers and non-teaching staff will be protected.

At the same meeting, he told officials to stop running welfare hostels and residential schools from rented buildings, ensure toilets with water supply in schools and hostels, speed up the Young India Integrated Residential Schools, and fill faculty posts in state universities.

Opposition to the move

The Intermediate Education Joint Action Committee has opposed the decision. Its chairman, P Madhusudhan Reddy, said the Intermediate system had delivered strong results over the decades and urged the government to withdraw the decision and consult stakeholders first. The committee has warned of protests involving students, parents, lecturers and staff if the merger goes ahead. The CPI has also asked the government not to act in haste.

Why it matters

The Intermediate stage, introduced in 1969-70 in undivided Andhra Pradesh, has shaped how lakhs of Telangana students prepare for engineering, medical and other entrance examinations, often through private junior colleges. Moving Classes 11 and 12 into schools would change board structures, admissions and the role of thousands of lecturers, and families with children now in Class 9 or 10 will be watching for the detailed rules.