Knowledge network · 08

Education

On 25 July 2026 the President, on the advice of the Prime Minister, assigned Pralhad Joshi the charge of the Ministry of Education in addition to his existing portfolios. He took charge at Kartavya Bhavan on 26 July 2026. The Ministry, through its two departments, is responsible for national education policy, central institutions and centrally sponsored schemes, working with States in a subject on the Concurrent List.

Documented factOfficial data
Pralhad Joshi seated at a meeting table with a name plate reading Union Minister of Education, beside Dr Sukanta Majumdar, with Indian flags behind
A Ministry of Education meeting with Minister of State Dr Sukanta Majumdar, September 2026.PTI
Knowledge network: NEP 2020 connects twelve areas of the Ministry of Education SCHOOL EDUCATION HIGHER EDUCATION NEP 2020 DIGITAL EDUCATION RESEARCH SKILL TEACHER ACCESS & EQUITY INFRASTRUCTURE UNIVERSITIES INNOVATION INTERNATIONAL NEP2020

01 Taking charge

The record since July 2026

Documented steps since the portfolio was assigned, drawn from the President’s Secretariat, the Cabinet Secretariat, PIB and attributed news reports.

  1. Charge of the Ministry of Education assigned

    “Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, the President has directed that Shri Pralhad Joshi, Cabinet Minister, be assigned the charge of the Ministry of Education, in addition to his existing portfolio.”
    Press communiqué, Rashtrapati Bhavan, 25.07.2026

    The same communiqué recorded that the President had accepted the resignation of Shri Dharmendra Pradhan from the Union Council of Ministers. The Cabinet Secretariat’s order of the same date records that he assumed charge as Minister of Education and continues to hold his other two portfolios.

    President’s Secretariat communiqué Cabinet Secretariat order

  2. Takes charge; reviews the Ministry’s schemes

    PIB reported that he took charge of the Ministry at Kartavya Bhavan and chaired a review of the implementation of its schemes and initiatives. Minister of State Jayant Chaudhary attended, with Dr Vineet Joshi, Secretary (Higher Education), and Shri T.K. Anil Kumar, Secretary (School Education and Literacy).

    PIB, 26 Jul 2026

  3. Chairs the 13th BRICS Education Ministers’ Meeting, Bhubaneswar

    Under India’s BRICS Chairship, the meeting adopted the 13th BRICS Education Ministers’ Declaration, covering five priority areas. They included early childhood care and education, skill development, research and innovation, and mutual recognition of qualifications. PIB reported, in its own words and not as a quotation, that he described education as the foundation of inclusive growth and shared prosperity.

    PIB, 4 Aug 2026 PIB, 7 Aug 2026

  4. Teachers’ Day: meets National Teachers’ Award recipients

    ANI reported that he interacted with the 82 recipients of the National Teachers’ Awards 2026, along with Ministers of State Jayant Chaudhary and Dr Sukanta Majumdar. The quotation is his social media post as reported by ANI.

    “Teachers do more than imparting knowledge; they shape the future.”
    Social media post, as reported by ANI

    ANI, 5 Sep 2026

02 Structure

Two departments, one ministry

The Ministry of Human Resource Development was renamed the Ministry of Education in 2020, following NEP 2020. Its budget estimate for 2026-27 is ₹1,39,289 crore, 14 per cent above the revised estimate for 2025-26.

Department of School Education & Literacy

₹83,562 crore BE 2026-27 · 60%

Schemes for school education and literacy, delivered with States and UTs. Secretary: Shri T.K. Anil Kumar.

  • Samagra Shiksha
  • PM SHRI
  • PM POSHAN
  • NIPUN Bharat
  • NCERT
  • CBSE
  • KVS · NVS

Department of Higher Education

₹55,727 crore BE 2026-27 · 40%

Universities, technical education, scholarships and research. Secretary: Dr Vineet Joshi.

  • UGC
  • AICTE
  • IITs · IIMs · NITs
  • Central universities
  • PM-USHA
  • PM Vidyalaxmi
  • SWAYAM

Ministers of State: Jayant Chaudhary; Dr Sukanta Majumdar.

SourcesPRS — Demand for Grants 2026-27PIB, 26 Jul 2026PIB — NEP 2020

03 NEP 2020 · school structure

From 10+2 to 5+3+3+4

Twelve years of school plus three years of Anganwadi / pre-school, per NEP 2020. PIB, 29 Jul 2020

04 Knowledge network

Twelve nodes of the education system

Official figures, each with its year and source. Outcomes are those of the national education system and the institutions that report them.

01 / 12Node

School Education

~14.67 lakhschools (UDISE+ 2025-26)

UDISE+ 2025-26 records nearly 14.67 lakh schools, 1.03 crore teachers and over 24.72 crore students from pre-primary to higher secondary. Pupil–teacher ratios by NEP stage are 10 (Foundational), 12 (Preparatory), 17 (Middle) and 21 (Secondary). Samagra Shiksha, the integrated centrally sponsored scheme for school education, has a budget estimate of ₹42,100 crore for 2026-27. PM POSHAN provides a hot meal to about 11.2 crore children.

PIB — UDISE+ 2025-26PRS — Demand for Grants 2026-27

02 / 12Node

Higher Education

30.0GER, ages 18–23 (AISHE 2023-24)

AISHE 2023-24 reports a gross enrolment ratio of 30.0, with female GER at 31.2 and male GER at 28.9. Total enrolment is 4.50 crore across 1,289 universities and 48,246 colleges, taught by 17.32 lakh teachers.

PIB — AISHE 2023-24

03 / 12Node

National Education Policy

50%higher-education GER target by 2035

Approved by the Union Cabinet on 29 July 2020, NEP 2020 replaces the 10+2 structure with 5+3+3+4 and aims for a 50 per cent GER in higher education by 2035. It recommends the mother tongue or regional language as the medium of instruction up to at least Grade 5 where possible, multiple entry and exit in undergraduate degrees, and an Academic Bank of Credit.

PIB, 29 Jul 2020

04 / 12Node

Digital Education

26.35 croreverified APAAR IDs (2 Jul 2026)

National platforms include DIKSHA for school content, PM eVIDYA for multi-mode access, and SWAYAM for online courses, which had over 5.15 crore enrolments by July 2025. APAAR, the “One Nation, One Student ID”, is a 12-digit academic identifier; 26.35 crore verified IDs had been generated as of 2 July 2026.

PIB factsheet, Jul 2026PIB factsheet, Jul 2025SWAYAM

05 / 12Node

Research

₹50,000 crANRF over five years, 2023–28

The Anusandhan National Research Foundation, set up under the ANRF Act, 2023, has an estimated budget of ₹50,000 crore over five years, about ₹36,000 crore of it expected from non-government sources. The Union Minister of Education is an ex-officio Vice-President of its Governing Board. One Nation One Subscription (about ₹6,000 crore for 2025–2027) gives government institutions access to international journals.

DST — ANRFPIB — ONOS, Nov 2024

06 / 12Node

Skill Development

170universities adopting the National Credit Framework (Jul 2025)

The National Credit Framework, launched on 10 April 2023, lets students earn credits from academic, vocational and experiential learning. Jayant Chaudhary is Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and also Minister of State in the Ministry of Education.

PIB factsheet, Jul 2025PMIndia — portfolios, 25.07.2026

07 / 12Node

Teacher Development

1.03 croreschool teachers (UDISE+ 2025-26)

The school system employs about 1.03 crore teachers. PIB announced that the President would confer National Teachers’ Awards on 48 school teachers on Teachers’ Day 2026. ANI reported that he interacted with the 82 recipients of the National Teachers’ Awards on 5 September 2026.

PIB, 21 Aug 2026ANI, 5 Sep 2026

08 / 12Node

Access & Equity

1.08gender parity index in higher education

Female GER in higher education (31.2) exceeds male GER (28.9), a gender parity index of 1.08. PM Vidyalaxmi, approved in November 2024, offers collateral-free education loans. Students with family income below ₹8 lakh receive a 3 per cent interest subvention on loans of up to ₹10 lakh.

PIB — AISHE 2023-24PIB — PM Vidyalaxmi, Nov 2024

09 / 12Node

Educational Infrastructure

14,500+PM SHRI schools

PM SHRI, approved in September 2022, is upgrading more than 14,500 existing schools into exemplar schools at a total cost of ₹27,360 crore over five years. PM-USHA supports State universities, including grants of ₹100 crore each to 35 universities for research, digital infrastructure and inclusion.

PIB — PM SHRIPIB factsheet, Jul 2025

10 / 12Node

Universities & Institutions

157central higher-education institutions (2025)

According to the Ministry’s July 2025 factsheet, India has 48 central universities, 23 IITs, 21 IIMs, 31 NITs plus IIEST Shibpur, 25 IIITs, and 8 IISERs and IISc. That is 157 central institutions in all, up from 115 in 2014.

PIB factsheet, Jul 2025

11 / 12Node

Innovation

₹1 lakh crRDI scheme corpus (DST)

Innovation policy cuts across ministries. The Research, Development and Innovation scheme, a ₹1 lakh crore corpus approved in July 2025, is administered by the Department of Science and Technology and supports private-sector R&D. The Ministry of Education’s levers include the ANRF, the Academic Bank of Credit and the national credit and qualification frameworks.

PIB — RDI scheme, Jul 2025

12 / 12Node

International Collaboration

13thBRICS Education Ministers’ Meeting, chaired Aug 2026

Indian institutions have opened campuses abroad: IIT Madras at Zanzibar, inaugurated in November 2023, and IIT Delhi at Abu Dhabi. The University of Southampton’s Gurugram campus was the first foreign university campus to open under the 2023 UGC regulations. In August 2026 he chaired the 13th BRICS Education Ministers’ Meeting in Bhubaneswar, which adopted a joint declaration.

PIB — IIT Madras ZanzibarPIB — Southampton, 2025PIB, 7 Aug 2026
Pralhad Joshi at the head of a long conference table with officials seated on both sides and Indian flags behind
A review meeting with officials.File photo
Children and privacy. This page uses no photographs of students and names no minors. Education data is presented only as published aggregates.

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