A BROADER VIEW OF EDU BUDGET

WHEN the Union Budget is presented every year, we hear a familiar argument: education is underfunded.

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We all agree on one point: education is the best long-term investment a nation can make. But in these debates, some focus only on the ministry of education (MoE) and ignore funding in education and research that comes through multiple ministries, mission agencies, and research and development institutions.

To keep our discussion balanced, we must therefore focus on the ecosystem as a whole and the direction we have set for ourselves as a nation through steady budgetary allocations for school education, higher education and research capacity, aligned with the National Education Policy, 2020 goals of access, equity, quality and excellence.

Human capital and knowledge creation emanate from across general education, health, agriculture, defence, atomic energy, space, science and technology, and skilling. Budget support also flows through large national missions, scholarship pipelines, institutional grants and research funding structures. We must underline that this support is not provided solely by MoE. Multiple ministries are involved in building a future-ready workforce and a strong research base.

Let us start with the most visible indicator: the MoE allocation itself. In 202425, the MoE was allocated %1,20,628 crore, which rose to 21,28,650 crore in 2025-26. Within this, school education gets the largest share and rightly so. In 2024-25, the department of school education and literacy received 773,008 crore, rising in 2025-26 to €78,572 crore.