Schools across Telangana remained shut on Monday as the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) enforced a statewide bandh in protest against the state government’s plan to rationalise and close thousands of government schools.
The student organisation announced the shutdown after Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s administration proposed merging or shutting nearly 23,000 of the state’s 27,000 government schools, citing underenrollment and teacher shortages.
ABVP state president G. Vamshi Kumar said the closures would devastate education access in rural and low-income communities. “These schools are lifelines for children whose families cannot afford private institutions,” he said. “Shutting them down is not rationalisation — it is abandonment.”
The bandh was observed across all 33 districts, with several private schools also declaring a precautionary holiday. ABVP volunteers staged demonstrations at district collector offices and held marches in Hyderabad’s Koti and Secunderabad areas.
The protesters put forward four main demands: immediate withdrawal of the school closure proposal, recruitment of teachers to fill more than 25,000 vacant posts, effective fee regulation in private and corporate schools, and full implementation of the National Education Policy 2020.
The Telangana government maintained that the rationalisation plan is designed to improve quality rather than reduce access, with merged schools expected to receive better infrastructure, teaching staff and mid-day meal facilities. Officials said no student would be left without schooling within a reasonable distance.
Opposition parties including the BJP and BRS sided with the protesters, calling the closures an attempt to benefit politically connected private school operators. The state education department is expected to issue fresh guidelines this week following the bandh.
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