A parliamentary panel has flagged significant underutilisation of funds for centrally sponsored schemes in school education for the financial year 2025–26 and raised concerns over the "negligible" capital expenditure allocated for FY 2026–27.
The 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports noted that against a budget estimate of ₹62,660 crore for five CSS, actual expenditure stood at ₹32,296.54 crore as of February 13 — just 51.5% of the BE and 60.1% of the revised estimate of ₹53,730.02 crore.
The panel urged the education ministry to identify administrative, procedural and intergovernmental bottlenecks leading to poor fund utilisation and asked that the shortfall be addressed at the RE stage if needed.
Expressing concern over capital expenditure, the committee said the allocation of just ₹0.85 crore in BE 2026–27 is "negligible" and should be significantly increased, especially for infrastructure in aspirational districts, Left Wing extremism-affected regions, and tribal areas.
