Haryana Chief Minister Sh. Nayab Singh Saini on Tuesday said that the state has earmarked Rs 18,717.89 crore for the School Education Department in the 2026–27 Budget, accounting for about 8.37% of the total outlay of Rs 2,23,658.17 crore, and asserted that claims regarding inadequate spending on education were misleading and unrealistic.
The Chief Minister was speaking during the ongoing Budget Session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha here today. While responding to issues raised by Members Sh. Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Sh. Aftab Ahmed, the Chief Minister said that the oft-cited figure of around 1.9% expenditure was being presented out of context.
He clarified that the National Education Policy’s benchmark of allocating 6% of GDP to education pertains to the combined public expenditure of both the Centre and the States, and not to any individual state. The target, he said, is rooted in the recommendations of the Kothari Commission and was first incorporated in the National Policy on Education, 1968, before being reiterated in the 1986 policy and its 1992 review.
Referring to the National Education Policy 2020, he pointed out that clauses 26.1 and 26.2 explicitly call for coordinated efforts by the Centre and the States to progressively raise public investment in education to 6% of GDP, underlining that it is a collective national commitment. The Chief Minister said that when expenditure is assessed in terms of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), the allocation for school education alone works out to about 1.37%.
However, he emphasised that a realistic assessment must factor in allocations across sectors, including Higher Education, Technical Education, and Skill Development and Industrial Training. Taken together, he said, the total public spending on education rises to 1.67% of GSDP and 10.25% of the state’s overall budget, reflecting a more accurate picture of the state’s investment in the sector.
Reaffirming the government’s focus, Sh. Nayab Singh Saini termed education as the most powerful instrument for shaping the future, and said that sustained efforts have been made in recent years to strengthen school infrastructure, expand digital learning, establish new colleges and technical institutions, and improve teacher recruitment and training.
He also cautioned opposition against attempts to “mislead or spread confusion” on an issue as critical as education, reiterating that the government remains committed to further strengthening the sector.