Zero GST on notebooks, stationery: MoE’s NextGen GST reforms slash taxes to boost school education

The ministry of education has announced NextGen GST reforms, slashing taxes on essential resources to benefit the school education sector. There will be zero GST on stationery and learning materials, including pencils, sharpeners, crayons, erasers.

In a significant step toward strengthening the quality of education, the NextGen GST reforms aim to make learning more fun and engaging, educational resources and infrastructure more affordable and accessible.

Complete GST exemption on stationery and learning materials such as pencils, sharpeners, crayons, exercise books, graph books, maps, charts and erasers has been announced.

The GST on toys and bicycles has been reduced from 12% to 5% and school bus fees for 10+seaters have been cut from 28% to 18%.

Also read Centre sitting on Rs 48,000 crore raised as additional taxes for school, higher education: CAG, budget data

“As a part of GST reforms, extensive tax-cuts have been introduced to benefit all stakeholders in the school education sector… Come celebrate GST Bachat Utsav 2025 with us and be a part of the #NextGenGSTReforms to strengthen quality schooling in India,” the ministry said.

Experts and academics have long advocated for a 6% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) allocation for the education sector, however, India’s education spending remains stagnant at 4.1% of GDP even after five-years of NEP 2020.

Two recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports and budget documents revealed that Rs 48,000 crore collected by the centre in additional tax or ‘cess’ to fund secondary and higher education is still not utilized.