HYDERABAD: The Telangana Education Commission has proposed merging five welfare residential education societies into a single body to improve governance, transparency and student welfare.

In its policy document, Education Policy for Telangana 2026, submitted recently to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, the TEC recommended integrating the Telangana Residential Educational Institutions Society (TREIS), Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society, Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society, Mahatma Jyothiba Phule Telangana Backward Classes Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society, and Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutions Society into a unified Telangana State Residential Education Society (TSRES).

The Commission said the current system operates through separate societies based on social categories, resulting in parallel administrative structures and duplication of functions. The proposed merger aims to bring all residential institutions under a single administrative framework.

The first phase would cover about 1,014 institutions.

The TEC recommended retaining the existing reservation pattern: SC (30%), ST (12%), ST-Agency (1%), BC (34%), minorities (17%) and others (6%).

Telangana’s residential education system, set up in 1971, currently runs 1,855 institutions serving 7.46 lakh students with 36,359 teachers.

Official data shows that only 68 institutions operate from society-owned buildings, while the rest function from rented or shared premises. Around 90% of residential colleges reportedly face inadequate student–classroom ratios, and hostel capacity is limited at several campuses.

This story has been written by Meghna Nath of The New Indian Express.