Fund allocation for education in Tamil Nadu falls to one-third in 25 years: PMK MP Anbumani Ramadoss
Dr. Anbumani also linked the decline in funding to falling enrolment in government schools.
PMK president and Rajya Sabha member Anbumani Ramadoss expressed concern on August 8, 2026 over the dramatic decline in educational funding in Tamil Nadu over the past 25 years. According to his statement, the proportion of education spending to the state's gross state domestic product (GSDP) has dropped from 3.92% in 2000-01 to just 1.30% in the current fiscal year 2026-27.
This substantial decrease has led to a significant reduction in the annual allocation for education from ₹4,949 crore in 2000-01 to ₹52,920 crore in 2026-27.
Ramadoss argued that such a reduction is tantamount to deliberately weakening government schools to support private institutions. He noted that if the current education allocation were increased back to the 3.92% of GSDP level from two decades ago, the state would allocate an additional ₹1.59 lakh crore to the sector. He also pointed to a troubling trend in government school enrollment, which fell from 75.52 lakh students in 2015-16 to 43.03 lakh in 2025-26, while private school enrollment surged from 36.56 lakh to 62.03 lakh during the same period.
Ramadoss called on the Tamil Nadu government to raise education spending to at least 3% of the state's economic output and to ensure that government schools had sufficient staffing, mandating at least one teacher for each class.
Written by urgent.news from The Hindu's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
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