Government Introduces ‘Vennela’ Syllabus to Ease Learning for Non-Telugu Speakers
Hyderabad: Telugu has been made a compulsory subject in all Class 9 in CBSE, ICSE, IB, and other board-affiliated schools across Telangana from the forthcoming academic year. It will be made compulsory for Class 10 from the 2026-27 academic year.
As per an order of the state government, the rule applies to government and private schools.
The decision is based on the Telangana (Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Telugu in Schools) Act, 2018. A meeting was held with the CBSE management board, where it was decided that all CBSE, ICSE, IB, and other board-affiliated schools in Telangana must teach Telugu as a compulsory subject for students in Class 9 and 10.
To make learning Telugu easier and more accessible, the government has decided to introduce Vennela (Simple Telugu) as a syllabus for CBSE, ICSE, IB, and other board exams in Classes 9 and 10 which will replace the existing text book Singidi (Standard Telugu).
The introduction of Simple Telugu is expected to benefit students who do not have Telugu as their mother tongue, including those from other states who are studying in Telangana.
Apart from implementing Telugu in Classes 9 and 10, the government has also ordered that Telugu language teaching and examinations be made compulsory for students from Class 1 to Class 10 in all CBSE, ICSE, IB, and other board-affiliated schools from the academic year 2025-26.
In 2018, the government enacted the Telangana (Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Telugu in Schools) Act, mandating Telugu instruction across all schools. The initial rollout began in the 2018-19 academic year, targeting Classes I and VI, with plans to extend to higher classes progressively.
The implementation faced challenges, particularly concerning non-Telugu-speaking students and the availability of qualified teachers. To address these issues, the government introduced a simplified Telugu curriculum, known as Vennela, to accommodate students from diverse linguistic backgrounds.
Despite these efforts, full compliance varied and thus, the recent directive to enforce compulsory Telugu education more stringently from the 2025-26 academic year onwards.
The Hyderabad School Parents Association acknowledged that many states, including Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, have made their local languages compulsory in schools to preserve linguistic heritage. While they recognise the importance of protecting Telugu, they believe the cosmopolitan culture requires to be taken into account.
"We have always felt that Telugu should not be a compulsory language. There should be some relaxation, especially for students joining in higher classes, as learning a local language cannot happen overnight," they stated.
The association suggested that if Telugu is to be made mandatory, it should apply from LKG so that students have a gradual learning curve. However, they acknowledged that a simplified Telugu syllabus is a reasonable compromise.
"The main problem is non-Telugu speaking students. Finding teachers might not be that difficult. However, if Telugu-speaking students are given a standard paper while non-Telugu speakers a simplified one then it is alright I think," noted a vice principal of a school.
