Dharmendra Pradhan Lauds Union Budget As Allocation For Education Ministry Reaches ₹128,650 Crore

With focus on quality education, skilling, innovation and entrepreneurship, this budget caters to the needs of children and youth, in alignment with Viksit Bharat 2047 goals, says Union education Minister

NEW DELHI: Describing the Union Budget 2025-26 as a visionary and futuristic one, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the total allocation for the Ministry of Education has reached ₹128,650 crore, marking a 6.22% increase over that of 2024-25 fiscal year.

Healing praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Pradhan said the Budget prioritises welfare, well-being, and empowerment of all citizens while firmly placing India on the development path in alignment with the goals set by Viksit Bharat 2047.

 

Pradhan informed that 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) will be set up in government schools in the next five years to cultivate the spirit of curiosity and innovation, and foster a scientific temper among young minds. The Budget has also proposed broadband connectivity to all government secondary schools and primary health centres in rural areas under the BharatNet project.

Pradhan said the total number of students in 23 IITs has increased to 1.35 lakh from 65,000 in the past 10 years, registering a 100% rise. Additional infrastructure will be created in the five IITs started after 2014 to facilitate education for 6,500 more students. Hostel and other infrastructure capacity at IIT, Patna will also be expanded, he said.

With the aim to help students understand their subjects better, the Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme has been proposed to provide digital-form Indian language books for school and higher education.

 

The Union Minister said five National Centres of Excellence for skilling will be set up with global expertise and partnerships to equip youth with the skills required for “Make for India, Make for the World” manufacturing.

The partnerships will cover curriculum design, training of trainers, a skills certification framework, and periodic reviews.

Pradhan highlighted that the fourth AI Centre of Excellence in Education, envisioned in the Budget 2025-26, aims to revolutionise India’s educational system from pre-primary to professional and research levels.

 

By harnessing artificial intelligence, it seeks to address disparities and inefficiencies, ensuring equitable and high-quality education across the nation. This Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for Education will be established with a total outlay of ₹500 crore, he said.

He informed the allocation of Rs. 20,000 crore to implement private sector driven Research, Development and Innovation. In the next five years, under the PM Research Fellowship scheme, provision of ten thousand fellowships for technological research in IITs and IISc with enhanced financial support is also proposed in the Budget.

Further, a Gyan Bharatam Mission for survey, documentation and conservation of our manuscript heritage with academic institutions, museums, libraries and private collectors will be undertaken to cover more than 1 crore manuscripts. A National Digital Repository of Indian knowledge systems for knowledge sharing will also be set up.

The Budget emphasises investing in people and facilitating all-round development of India’s human capital. With ‘Gareeb, Yuva, Annadata, and Naari’ as the pillars, this budget would uplift sentiments of the poor and middle class, accelerate spending, catalyze investments, and spur growth.

The Budget would remove regional imbalances, build rural prosperity, nurture research, innovation and entrepreneurship, invigorate the education and skilling landscape, and lead to employment-led development, the Union Minister said.

“With bigger and bolder investments in education, skilling, research, and innovation, this Union Budget represents another big leap towards empowering India’s population with more opportunities for world-class education and building capacities of human capital,” said Pradhan

Allocations for Department of School Education & Literacy

Budget Allocation for the FY 2025-26 of ₹ 78572 core is the highest ever for the Department of School Education & Literacy.

There has been an overall increase of ₹ 5,074 core (7%) in the allocation of Department of School Education and Literacy in the FY 2025-26 from BE 2024-25. As compared to RE of FY 2024-25, there has been an increase of ₹ 11,000 crore. (16.28 %).

The highest ever Budget allocation may be seen in the Autonomous Body of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) at Rs. 9,503 core

Allocation in KVS has increased by ₹ 201.17 core as compared to Budget allocation of FY 2024-25. There has been an increase of ₹ 776 crore (9%) as compared to RE of FY 2024-25.

Allocation of FY 2025-26 in flagship schemes have increased i.e Samagra Shiksha (by ₹ 3750 core), PM-POSHAN (by ₹ 32 core) and PM-SHRI (by ₹ 1450 core) with respect to allocation (BE) of FY 2024-25.

As compared to RE 2024-25, allocation in Samagra Shiksha has increased by ₹ 4240 crore (11%), while  allocation in PM-POSHAN has increased by ₹ 2500 core (25 %) and allocation to PM-SHRI has increased by ₹ 3000 core(66%).

Out of the overall Budget allocation in FY 2025-26 of ₹ 78,572 core, the scheme allocation is ₹ 63,089 core and Non-Scheme Allocation is ₹ 15,483 core.

Increase in scheme allocation in BE 2025-26 is ₹ 5284 core (9.14 %) as compared to BE 2024-25.

As compared to RE 24-25, increase in scheme allocation is ₹ 10248 core (19%) and non-scheme allocation has increased by ₹ 752 core (5%) in BE 2025-26.

Allocation to Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education

Overall Budget allocation in FY 2025-26 is Rs. 50077.95 core out of which scheme allocation is Rs. 6990.88 core and Non- Scheme allocation is Rs. 43087.07 core.

There has been an overall increase of Rs. 2458.18 core (5.16%) in the Budget allocation of Department of Higher Education in the FY 2025-26 with respect to FY 2024-25.

Allocations to Major Autonomous Bodies under Higher Education

Total allocation to Autonomous Bodies in 2025-26 has increased to Rs. 42732 core from Rs. 39777.40 in 2024-25 fiscal year, registering an increase of 7.42%.

Allocation in Central Universities has been put at Rs. 16691.31 core, when compared to Rs. 15928 core in 2024-25 which is  Rs 763.31 core more (4.79 % increase).

The UGC has been allocated Rs.3335.97 crore in 2025-26, against Rs. 2500 core in 2024-25 which is Rs. 835.97 core more (33.44 % increase).

IITs have been allocated Rs. 11349.00 core in 2025-26, against Rs. 10324.50 core in 2024-25 which is Rs. 1024.50 core more (9.92% increase).

For NITs, Rs.5687.47 core has been allocated in FY 2025-26, against Rs.5040 core in 2024-25 increasing the allocation by Rs. 647.47 core (12.85% increase).

The Deemed Universities have been allocated Rs.604 crore in 2025-26, against Rs.596 crore in 2024-25 increasing the allocation by Rs. 8 core (1.34% increase).

IIMs have been allocated Rs.251.89 core in 2025-26, against Rs. 212.21 core in 2024-25 increasing the allocation by Rs. 39.68 core (18.70% increase).

IIITs have been allocated Rs.407.00 crore in 2025-26, against Rs.315.91 crore in 2024-25 increasing the allocation by Rs. 91.09 crore (28.83 % increase).

Grants for Promotion of Indian Languages have been allocated Rs.347.03 core in 2025-26, against Rs.310.10 crore in 2024-25 increasing the allocation by Rs. 36.93 crore (11.91% increase).

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