In a key new initiative, 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs will be set up in government schools “to cultivate the spirit of curiosity and innovation, and foster a scientific temper among young minds”. 
| Photo Credit: G.N. Rao

The 2025-26 Union Budget’s education-related announcements largely pertained to high-end capabilities. In addition to Centres of Excellence on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in agriculture, health, and sustainable cities, this Budget has proposed to set up an AI Centre of Excellence on Education, allocating ₹500 crore to it.

A Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme will provide Indian language books in digital form to school and higher education. Five third-generation Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) set up after 2014, including IIT Goa and IIT Dharwad, will be supported to take in 6,500 more students. IIT Patna will have expanded hostels and other infrastructure capacity. The Budget speech noted that the total number of students in 23 IITs has more than doubled — from 65,000 to 1.35 lakh students in the past 10 years.

This year, 10,000 more seats in medical colleges and hospitals will be added as part of an initiative to add 75,000 seats in the next 10 years.

Also read | Union Budget 2025: Spending on IITs, IIMs and higher education in general stagnates | Data 

Outlay increases have been seen in higher education, Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), Central Universities, centrally sponsored schemes, and students financial aid. Higher education received about 7.7% more this year compared to last year. IKS have been allocated ₹50 crore. “This move will significantly boost UGC’s (University Grants Commission) efforts to prepare 22,000 textbooks for UG (undergraduate) and PG (postgraduate) studies in 22 Indian languages,” UGC Chairperson M. Jagadesh Kumar said. The Budget proposes a national digital repository for IKS

The PM Research Fellowship scheme will provide 10,000 scholarships over the next five years for technological research in the IITs and in the Indian Institute of Science.

In a key new initiative, 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs will be set up in government schools “to cultivate the spirit of curiosity and innovation, and foster a scientific temper among young minds”. This will come over and above providing broadband connectivity to all government secondary schools and Primary Health Centres in rural areas.

On skilling, the Budget talks about setting up five National Centres of Excellence for skilling with global expertise, and partnerships to equip our youth with the skills required for ‘Make for India, Make for the World’ manufacturing. The partnerships will cover curriculum design, training of trainers, a skills certification framework, and periodic reviews.

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said 75,000 new seats will be added in medical colleges across the country over the next five years to address the growing demand for healthcare professionals.

The PM made the promise in his Independence Day address to the nation.

The Prime Minister also said his government had, over the past decade, increased total available seats to nearly a lakh. He said adding 75,000 more seats would decrease pressure on lakhs of candidates who spend a lot of money to prep for the test. It would also, he said, stop aspiring medical professionals from leaving the country to gain admission elsewhere.

“In the past decade, we have increased medical seats to nearly one lakh. (But) today, around 25,000 youths go abroad every year for medical education. Therefore, we have decided that in the next five years, 75,000 new seats will be created in the medical field,” he said.

According to the Health Ministry, the number of medical colleges in the country has increased by 88 per cent from 2014, when the BJP came to power. There were 387 before 2014 and this has since increased to 731, the government said, adding there were also an increase of 133 per cent seats for postgraduate medical courses, from around 31,000 in 2014 to over 72,000 now.

The Prime Minister also said his government would increase the number of hospitals and health infrastructure; in June Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the country’s health budget had been increased from Rs 79,221 crore last year to over Rs 90,000 crore for 2024/25.

Medical college seats have been in sharp focus over the past few weeks and months after controversy over the conduct and results of the NEET-UG exam, which is a qualifying test for admission to undergraduate courses for future doctors. The controversy broke in June after red flags over the number – 67 – of perfect scores and the award of ‘grace marks’ to 1,563 students.

It also emerged that the question paper had been leaked at some centres in Patna and Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, prompting multiple appeals to be filed before the Supreme Court.

The CBI had also been tasked with investigating a national racket of leaking question papers.

READ | No NEET Re-Exam, “Can’t Conclude Sanctity Breached”: Court

Eventually, however, the top court ruled out a complete re-test for the 2024 NEET-UG exam, reasoning there is no data to suggest a “systemic breach” or that the “sanctity” of the examination, following two localised leaks of the question paper, had been affected.

Over 23.3 lakh students sat for the May 5 NEET-UG exam, according to the National Testing Agency, the central body that conducts such examinations. Only a small number of these candidates will be selected to fill the limited number of seats, making this a competitive test.

Controversy over the NEET-UG exam triggered a massive political row between the BJP and the Congress-led opposition, with fierce squabbles inside and outside Parliament.