Lok Sabha Question No. 3801 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-16
Subject: Budget Allocation for Education Sector
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Anurag Sharma, Shri Lalji Verma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3801

ANSWERED ON 16.03.2026

## Budget Allocation for Education Sector

3801. Shri Anurag Sharma: Shri Lalji Verma:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the total budget allocation for the education sector during the years 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27;
- (b)  the  details  of  financial  strategy,  including  Union  Budget  provisions,  State  Government contributions and other funding mechanisms formulated to bridge the existing gap;
- (c) the extent to which the present allocations meet the assessed requirement and the gaps that remain;
- (d) whether the Government has taken any steps to ensure equitable digital access in all States and regions in the country with special emphasis on rural and economically backward areas; and
- (e)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  monitoring  mechanism  adopted  for  effective implementation nationwide annually?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

- (a): The details of budget allocation to Ministry of Education during the years 2024-25, 202526 and 2026-27 are given in the table given below-:

(Rs. in crore)

| Financial Year   | Budget Allocation to Ministry of Education   |
|------------------|----------------------------------------------|
| 2024-25          | 1,21,118                                     |
| 2025-26          | 1,28,650                                     |
| 2026-27          | 1,39,289                                     |

- (b) & (c): Education being in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, increasing expenditure in  education  is  the  responsibility  of  the  Central  and  States  Governments.  As  per  National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the targeted public expenditure on Education by Centre and States/UTs is 6% of GDP. The Government of India has consistently increased the budget

allocation  of  the  Ministry  of  Education  from  Rs.93,224.31  crore  in  F.Y.  2021-22  to  Rs. 1,39,289.48 crore in 2026-27(an increase of 49.4% in 5 years).

As  per  latest  report  on  Analysis  of  Budgeted  Expenditure  on  Education,  2022-23, details of total expenditure on education by Centre and States/UTs from 2018-19 to 2022-23 is given as under:

(Rs. in crore)

|               | Expenditure on Education   | Expenditure on Education   | Expenditure on Education   | Expenditure on Education   | Expenditure on Education   |
|---------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|
| Centre/States | 2018-19 (Actual)           | 2019-20 (Actual)           | 2020-21 (Actual)           | 2021-22 (RE)               | 2022-23 (BE)               |
| Centre        | 1,82,139                   | 2,02,991                   | 2,13,883                   | 2,73,107                   | 2,92,548                   |
| States/UTs    | 5,54,442                   | 6,09,222                   | 6,13,790                   | 7,13,793                   | 7,99,920                   |
| Total         | 7,36,581                   | 8,12,214                   | 8,27,673                   | 9,86,899                   | 10,92,467                  |

It  is  evident  from  the  above  table  that  the  expenditure  on  education  of  Centre  and States/UTs is continuously increasing since 2018-19.

Union Budget 2026-27 has announced setting up of 5 University Townships in the vicinity of major industrial and logistic corridors and 1 girls' hostel in every district through Viability Gap Funding /capital support to encourage enrolment of girls in STEM institutes/ courses.

(d) & (e): As education is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, ensuring equitable digital access of education in all States is the responsibility of both Central and States Governments. Majority of the schools are under the domain of respective State and UT Governments. Under Samagra Shiksha, financial assistance is provided to States/UTs, including rural, tribal and economically backward areas, inter-alia for setting up of ICT labs and Smart Classrooms in Government and Government Aided Schools having classes VI to XII.

Till date 1,79,153 ICT Labs and 1,76,738 Smart Classrooms have been sanctioned to State/UT Governments. Based on the UDISE+ data and funds approved in Project Approval Board's (PAB) meetings to States/UTs for the year 2025-26, gaps were identified in saturating ICT Labs and Smart Classrooms in Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools in States/UTs. To  address  this  gap,  22,618  ICT  Labs  and  29,920  Smart  Classrooms  in  States/UTs  were approved  for  the  saturation  of  these  facilities  in  the  year  2025-26.  Further,  to  saturate  all functional Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) 3,564 ICT Labs and 3,655 Smart Classrooms were approved in the year 2024-25. The year wise details of funds allocated in the last  four  years  (i.e.  from  2021-22  to  2024-25)  for  ICT  Labs  and  Smart  Classrooms  in Government and Government-aided schools is as under:

(Rs. in lakh)

| Financial Year   | ICT Labs   | Smart Classrooms   |
|------------------|------------|--------------------|
| 2021-22          | 68,456     | 91,093             |
| 2022-23          | 41,824     | 73,823             |
| 2023-24          | 55,904     | 53,730             |
| 2024-25          | 54,372     | 59,519             |

The  Government  of  India,  in  the  Budget  2025-26,  has  announced  provision  of broadband  connectivity  to  all  Government  Secondary  Schools  in  rural  areas,  under  the 'BharatNet' project to enhance digital infrastructure in remote areas by BSNL.

To achieve the objectives of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and to bridge the digital divide in education, a comprehensive initiative called PM eVidya was initiated as part of  'Atmanirbhar  Bharat  Abhiyaan'  on  17th  May,  2020,  which  unifies  all  efforts  related  to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education across the country under the  aegis  of  NEP  2020.  States/UTs  collaborate  with  NCERT  to  utilise,  monitor  and evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives as per their requirements in mother tongue/local/regional  languages.  PM  eVidya  includes  200  DTH  TV  Channels  allotted  to States/UTs/Autonomous Bodies (ABs)/Other Ministries in Government of India and 400 Radio channels to enable them to provide supplementary education as per their requirement in various Indian languages for classes 1-12.

Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) is the Nation's One Nation, One  Digital platform for providing quality e-content for school education including Government schools in States/UTs along with QR coded Energised Textbooks (ETBs) for all grades.  States/UTs/Abs  have  generated  and  contributed  over  3.7  lakh  content  in  mother local/regional  languages  enabling  multilingualism.  DIKSHA  Offline  supports  areas  with limited or no internet connectivity. The stakeholders have access to more than 450 Virtual Labs and 100 Virtual skill labs on DIKSHA.

In  Higher  Education,  various  initiatives  /  reforms  have  been  carried  out  such  as Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR ID) of individual student which will  act  as  lifelong  identity  to  track  their  educational  journey  and  achievements  from,  preprimary  to  higher  education;  introduction  of  PM  Vidyalaxmi  scheme  to  provide  financial support to meritorious students inter-alia enabling collateral free, guarantor free loan through a  simple,  transparent  and  student-friendly  and  entirely  digital  application  process;  revised regulation of ODL / Online Education; permitting up to 40% credits in regular courses using SWAYAM platform; launch of new SWAYAM Plus portal with aim to enhance skill and upskilling and reskilling of existing manpower employed in different sectors; Integration of technology in administration of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from admission to grant of degree through SAMARTH; National Digital Library (NDL): Providing free access to a vast repository  of  academic  resources,  textbooks,  and  research  papers;  e-PG  Pathshala  is  an initiative  by  the  Ministry  of  Education  under  the  National  Mission  on  Education  through ICT(NME-ICT),  implemented  by  the  UGC  to  provide  high-quality,  free  e-content  for postgraduate  education,  DTH  Channels  (Swayam  Prabha):  under  which  24/7  educational content delivered through direct-to-home channels, ensuring reach in remote areas.

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