Lok Sabha Question No. 327 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-02
Subject: Budget Estimates for Schools Education
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Vishaldada Prakashbapu Patil, Ms. Praniti Sushilkumar Shinde, Adv Gowaal Kagada Padavi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 327

## ANSWERED ON 02.02.2026

## Budget Estimates for Schools Education

## 327. Shri Vishaldada Prakashbapu Patil:

Ms. Praniti Sushilkumar Shinde:

Adv Gowaal Kagada Padavi:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of reasons for the 6.57 per cent reduction in the Budget Estimates for the  Department  of  School  Education  and  Literacy  for  2025-26  vis-à-vis  the Ministry's projected requirement of 84,100.84 Crore;
- (b) the  timeline  for  establishing  the  proposed  500  crore  Centre  of  Excellence  in Artificial Intelligence for Education and the criteria for selection of its location; and
- (c) the  number  of  schools  in  Nandurbar,  Bhandara,  Solapur,  Sangli  and  Dhule districts  upgraded  under  PM-SHRI  and  the  status  of  Atal  Tinkering  Labs  in Government schools as of December 2025?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

- (a) The  Budget  Allocation  for  FY  2025-26  is  ₹78,572.10  crore,  reflecting  an increase of ₹5,074 crore over FY 2024-25 i.e., ₹73498.10 Crore. This represents a growth  of  6.90  percent  during  FY  2025-26  vis-à-vis  FY  2024-25.  Further,  budget allocations  are  made  on  the  basis  of  projected  demands,  expenditure  trends  of previous years and the Revised Estimates by Ministry of Finance, while also taking

into account overall fiscal constraints and competing demands  from  various Ministries/Departments.

- (b) The  Government  of  India  has  established  a  Centre  of  Excellence  (CoE)  in Artificial  Intelligence  (AI)  for  Education  following  its  announcement  in  the  Union Budget 2025-26 as part of the vision to "Make AI in India and Make AI work for India".

The AI-CoE for Education has been established at IIT Madras, with an outlay of  Rs.  500  crores.  The  establishment  followed  a  multi  stage  evaluation  process  of proposals  from  leading  academic  institutions  across  the  country  during  JuneSeptember 2025. The evaluation committee led by industry experts from education and  AI sectors  focussed  on  technical robustness,  pedagogical  depth,  faculty experience and scalability of each proposal.

The AI-CoE is envisaged to drive innovation, research, and development in AIpowered educational tools and personalised adaptive learning to enhance equitable access to quality education across the country.

- (c) The  list  of  number  of  schools  upgraded  under  PM  SHRI  Scheme  is  placed below:

|   S.No. | Name of district   |   Number of PM SHRI Schools selected |
|---------|--------------------|--------------------------------------|
|       1 | Nandurbar          |                                   16 |
|       2 | Bhandara           |                                   21 |
|       3 | Solapur            |                                   39 |
|       4 | Sangli             |                                   24 |
|       5 | Dhule              |                                   10 |

As  per  information  received  from  NITI  Aayog,  5,513  ATLs  are  currently functional in government schools across the country.

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