Education Budget 2026: Minority scholarship funds cut sharply; SIO warns of exclusion

Describing the Union Budget 2026-27 as a “political choice to push an already marginalised community further to the margins”, the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) has condemned one of the lowest budget allocations for minority scholarships and pre-matric and post-matric funding.

On February 1, finance minister Niramala Sitharaman presented the Education Budget 2026-27, where she announced over Rs 1,000 crore to the budget estimates for a slew of scholarships for students from historically-marginalised backgrounds (Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes).

But, on the other hand, there was a massive drop in the schemes targeting minority communities, including some to the point of zero allocation.

“Minority scholarships remain drastically lower than earlier years, however pre-matric and post-matric allocations have barely recovered from severe cuts, the Merit-cum-Means scholarship has been virtually dismantled, and madrasa education funding has been reduced to zero again,” SIO said in an official statement.

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Budget 2026-27: Madrasas receive zero allocation

The government has cut the budget allocation of merit-cum-means scholarship for professional and technical courses for minority students to almost nil in the Budget 2026-27.

Moreover, the Education Scheme for Madrasas and Minorities has received zero allocation.

The organisation mentioned that the Prime Minister–Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PM VIKAS) scheme has seen a sharp cut from Rs 517 crore last year to Rs 303 crore, which will weaken the socio-economic and skill-based empowerment of minorities.

The India Budget 2026-27 has the largest share of funds for scholarship schemes under the ministry of social justice and empowerment, those for OBCs, Economical Backward Classes (EBC) , de-notified and nomadic and semic-nomadic tribes (DNT).

“Education as a whole has received only 4.6% of GDP and 2.6% of the total Union Budget, far below the 6% of GDP commitment made in the government’s own NEP 2020. This failure directly violates the government’s stated Second Kartavya of building people’s capacities and the Third Kartavya of ensuring equitable access to opportunities,” the organisation added.