Five years after the National Education Policy declared an increase of 6% of the country’s GDP to be spent on education, higher education has seen multiple funding cuts across universities in India.
An increase from 2% of the previous years, the move to increase annual spending on public education was met with widespread approval from scholars and educators across India, and the incumbent ruling party posited the development as evidence of the government’s increased focus on increasing literacy rates, with an emphasis on ‘native education’ or the learning of indigenous Indian languages over English.
However, despite public education in schools seeing a gradual boost in funding, the same cannot be said for higher education in the public sphere. Five years after the pandemic, the ground reality of funding for public education seems to have changed for the worse, when in 2024-2025, in the interim budget announcement, the University Grants Commission (UGC)—the statutory body that recognises colleges and universities and allocates financial assistance to them—saw their budget slashed by over 60 per cent. From ₹6,409 crore in the previous years to approximately ₹2,500 crore, the cut is part of a larger overhaul of higher education funding that came with little explanation. Although the budget for school education has been increased by over Rs 500 crore, the grant for higher education has been reduced by over Rs 9600 crore from the previous fiscal year’s Revised Estimate (RE), according to the Press Trust of India.
The worst-affected seem to be some of India’s most prestigious universities: JNU’s funding seems to have increased—from ₹249 crore in 2014-15 to ₹309 crore in 2023-24. However, when viewed in the context of inflation, it has failed to keep up with rising costs. Between 2014 and 2024, inflation rose by 53.4%, yet JNU’s funding increased by only 24.48%, leading to an effective decline in available resources per student.
“I agree with some of NEP’s ideas on paper,” stated a lecturer from Delhi University, adding, “However, higher education bodies across the country were blindsided by the decision that education at the elementary level would come at the cost of other forms. A country cannot grow without its college students, and it’s high time the government realises that.”
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Image Credits: Devesh for DU Beat
Aastha Singh
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