Are Samagra Shiksha Approvals Keeping Up With Inflation?
No, they are not.
Allocations in Samagra Shiksha Keep Falling
Figures for each year calculated by summing total amount proposed by all states/UTs and amount recommended by PAB. Amounts in Rs. Crores.
Source: PAB Minutes, DoSEL
Rough Copy by thatgurjot
Over the last eight years that the Samagra Shiksha scheme has been around, the total amount proposed by all states and UTs has varied widely between years but the amount approved by the PAB has stayed largely flat.
When you chart the inflation-adjusted figures you get a simpler picture: Adjusted for inflation, both the proposed and approved amounts have reduced over the years.
In fact, in real value terms, in 2025-26 the PAB approved only three-quarters of what it had approved eight years ago!
Comparing against the downward trend in the Union Budget’s outlay for the scheme, this makes sense. Clearly the money flowing into public education has been reducing all these years.
But when you look at the fact that despite the reduced input, the actual spending under the scheme has also been flatlining – that’s enough cause for alarm!
Context: The Samagra Shiksha scheme started in 2018-19 as a consolidated centrally sponsored scheme for providing school education. Each year the scheme’s Project Approval Board (PAB) grants states and UTs a corpus for enhancing the quality of education in government schools. Both states and the PAB have to abide by the scheme’s Financial Management and Procurement Manual in this process. The minutes of these meetings along with the data on the activities, proposals and recommendations is published on the Ministry’s website.