A parliamentary committee described the current allocation for higher education as “underwhelming” and inadequate, and recommended that education spending be raised to 6% of GDP, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

The committee’s report was made public amid a plethora of issues that have gripped the department, including the inept handling of CBSE as well as NEET exams.

The committee noted that the budget increase for the Department of Higher Education in 2025-26 was lower than the previous year, while it suggested that allocations should increase by 8% to 10% annually to adjust for inflation and maintain standards.

The committee expressed concern that the gross enrolment ratio (GER) has not shown significant growth between 2018-2023, while highlighting that India’s education spending (4.12% of GDP in 2021-22) is below NEP-2020 targets and lower than some SAARC countries such as Bhutan and the Maldives.

The committee has called on the government to secure additional funds from the Finance Ministry to achieve 6% of GDP spending and strengthen education from school to higher levels. The government’s inability to spend adequately on education across schools and institutions of higher education is worrying. A large number of schools remain without basic facilities, while institutions of higher education face multiple issues ranging from lack of permanent teachers and infrastructure to inadequate scholarships and insufficient funding for research.

These issues need to be addressed with utmost urgency, and the recommendations of the committee should be seriously studied and implemented.