Education Sector receives 1.28 Lakh Crore in Union Budget 2025

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2025 in parliament on Saturday, giving the education sector ?1.28 lakh crore funding, a 6.65% increase over last year. The Department of School Education and Literacy and the Department of Higher Education share this funding.

The largest share, ?78,572.10 crore, would be given to the Department of School Education and Literacy in order to advance quality school education through schemes undertaken across the nation. ?50,077.95 crore would be provided for the Department of Higher Education in order to further develop higher education institutions and make access better. This will significantly boost the quality of education, elevate research and innovation, and make higher learning more accessible.

Flagship initiatives: The PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) project has received an added ?1,450 crore. So its total allocation is now at ?7,500 crore. It will transform more than 15,000 schools in tandem with NEP 2020.

The other major schemes, Samagra Shiksha and Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN), were allocated ?41,250 crore and ?12,500 crore, respectively.

The New India Literacy Programme will get ?1,250 crores, whereas the Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States fund will get ?160 crores.

To promote skill development and innovation in the budget, along with conventional education, the scheme has provided a PM Research Fellowship Scheme with 10,000 fellowships that would encourage technological research in IITs and IISc. Their financial support would increase in the next five years. There would be 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs established in government schools and five National Centres of Excellence for Skilling would be set up by providing international expertise.

Additional infrastructure in the five IITs established after 2014 will accommodate 6,500 more students, and 10,000 additional medical seats will be added next year as part of a broader initiative to increase medical education capacity.