FM promises girls’ hostels in every district:New institutes and labs announced, is education spending enough for ‘Viksit Bharat’?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman focused on education in her ninth Budget, amidst other important sectors. The government will help ICAI, ICSI, and ICMAI create short courses and practical tools. This will build a pool of corporate mitras in smaller cities. Five university townships will come up near major industrial hubs. They will have universities, colleges, homes, and research facilities. The government will support the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai, to set up AVGC content creator labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges. The budget proposes three new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research and upgrades to seven existing ones. In today’s explainer, we look at how India has been spending on education and what needs to be done. What are the other major announcements in the education sector? Clinical Trial Centres: A network of 1,000 accredited centres will be created. Girls’ Hostels: Every district will get at least one girls’ hostel. Ayurveda Institutes: Seven new institutes will be set up. Institute of Design: A new institute will come up in the Northeast. NIMHANS 2: Will be established to expand healthcare education and research. Content Creator Labs: AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics) labs will be set up in 1,500 secondary schools and 500 colleges to boost digital and creative skills. Tribal Education (Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan): Focus on tribal-majority villages (population 500+) and Aspirational Districts. 728 EMRS schools approved, 479 functional. Aspirational Blocks Programme: 500 blocks monitored for KPIs, including school education, with budget allocations under the 2025-26 and 2026-27 Samagra Shiksha framework. How much does India spend on education? This year, in 2026, the education budget for the Ministry of Education is ₹1.39 lakh crore. India allocated ₹1.28 lakh crore to the education budget in 2025–26, which was 6.5 per cent higher than in FY 2024–25. NOTE: The graphic shows that the hike — the percentage increase in the education budget compared to the previous year — is decreasing despite an increase in the overall budget allocation. India has consistently allocated 4.1%–4.6% of its GDP to education between 2015 and 2024, aligning with the Education 2030 Framework for Action, which recommends spending 4%–6% of GDP on education. According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics reports, India also devoted 13.5%–17.2% of its total public expenditure to education during this period, in line with the framework’s target of 15%–20%. However, overall spending in the Budget remains below the suggested 6% of GDP outlined in the National Education Policy (2020). Where does India’s education money actually go? The total education budget is spent under two categories: school education and higher education. According to trends over the last 10 years, there has been an upward trajectory in education spending. Data from the Centre for Education and Social Studies suggest that the allocation for school education increased from ₹42,219 crore in 2015 to ₹78,572 crore in 2025. Meanwhile, the budget for higher education followed a similar trend, rising from ₹26,855 crore in 2015 to ₹50,078 crore in 2025. What do leading economies allocate to education? It is important to note that some of the world’s leading economies spend 6% or more of their GDP on education. Leading economies spend 6%–7.5% of their GDP on education, with Japan at 7.4%, China at 6.1%, the US at 6%, and the UK at over 6%. While India is still grappling with students and parents being overburdened by coaching after school hours, China, in 2021, banned for-profit tutoring in school subjects, shocking both the education and business sectors. Policymakers said private tutoring had become a commercialised shadow system that created financial strain, stress, and inequality for families. Which government spent more on education — NDA or UPA? UPA years: Higher priority in budget share Between 2009–10 and 2013–14, the UPA government consistently spent 4.3%–5% of its total Union Budget on education. Peak year: 2011–12
Education share: 5.04%
Average (UPA-2): ~4.7% This period saw major expansion in: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan RTE Act implementation New central universities and IITs NDA years: Rising money, shrinking share Since 2014–15, education spending has grown in rupee terms, but its priority within the Budget has steadily declined. 2014–15: 4.61%
2019–20: 3.40%
2024–25: 2.50%
2025–26: ~2.54% This decline reflects: Rapid expansion of total government expenditure Higher allocations for infrastructure, defence, and welfare Education is not keeping pace proportionally Why are absolute increases misleading? While the government highlights annual hikes in education budgets, the real question is priority. Example: Education allocation rose by ₹8,022 crore in 2025–26 But total Union spending rose by over ₹2.4 lakh crore Result: Education gains are outpaced by overall spending growth. What challenges does India face in education spending? Equally important is the fact that the education budget over the past decade has lingered around 3%–4% of GDP. Moreover, while India has made significant strides in increasing access to education, challenges remain in infrastructure, quality, and equitable distribution of resources. Here are examples from some Indian states that reflect issues seen across the country. Madhya Pradesh:
As per the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) report from the Union Education Ministry, major gaps exist in school facilities, especially in rural and semi-urban areas. Of the 92,439 schools in the state, only 823 (around 0.9%) have digital libraries. This is far below the national average of 6.1%. Rajasthan:
On 31 January 2026, reports emerged that Madan Dilawar, the Education Minister of Rajasthan, acknowledged that many government schools in the state are functioning out of temples because their buildings are in poor condition. He also revealed that 41,178 out of 45,365 government schools in the state need major repairs. Chhattisgarh:
Around 10,000 members of 23 teachers’ unions marched in the summer of 2025 to protest the Chhattisgarh government’s plan to rationalise schools. The 2025 order aimed to restructure 10,463 schools, a move teachers fear could cost up to 43,000 jobs and affect education quality. Despite heavy police deployment, protesters broke through initial barricades, chanting slogans against the government and demanding a rollback. Teachers argued that rationalisation would overstretch staff, making it difficult for two teachers to manage 18 classes. Former Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Deo criticised the decision as unjust and harmful to students, claiming a similar policy under the BJP had closed 2,000–2,500 schools. While he acknowledged the need to remove surplus teachers, he warned of risks in schools with no staff. The government defended the plan, saying it would improve education standards and ensure fair distribution of teachers. Delhi:
According to the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2023–24 report, Delhi has 5,556 schools educating nearly 44.9 lakh students, averaging 808 students per school. This makes Delhi’s schools among the most heavily burdened in India. Uttarakhand:
Recent district education reports indicate that more than 60 government schools in Uttarakhand have been marked as unsafe or in poor condition. Among them, 28 schools need to be rebuilt immediately, and over 120 classrooms require urgent maintenance. Is education spending enough for ‘Viksit Bharat’? There has been a strong push to invest more in education, as reiterated by various committees, experts, and, most importantly, the National Education Policy 2020. India remains below the global benchmark of 6% of GDP for education, fluctuating between 4.5% and 5%. According to the Centre for Education and Social Studies, “The allocation for the University Grants Commission (UGC) saw a sharp decline of 61% in the 2024–25 Budget, signalling a potential shift away from traditional higher education funding models. Additionally, while overall education funding has increased, India’s education expenditure remains below the global benchmark of 6% of GDP, fluctuating between 2.8% and 2.9% since 2015, and varying between 3.25% and 4.36% of GDP in 2022,” a report on education budget and spending between 2015 and 2025 reads. Moreover, resource utilisation efficiency remains a concern, as some allocated funds remain underutilised due to administrative bottlenecks, as trends over the last decade show.
Graphics: Gaurav Raj