Chennai, Aug 6:
Amid criticism over reduced funding, School Education Minister A Rajmohan on Wednesday defended the TVK government’s allocation, stating that it reflects a “genuine” outlay after correcting inflated estimates made by the previous DMK regime.
He said that while the DMK’s 2025–26 Budget had earmarked Rs 46,767 crore for school education, the actual expenditure was only Rs 42,351 crore. Despite introducing no new schemes in its interim Budget for 2026–27, the previous government increased the allocation to Rs 48,534 crore, which Rajmohan described as an artificial hike driven by inflated salary provisions and expenditure projections, resulting in an unjustified rise of nearly Rs 6,003 crore.
“After assuming office, the TVK government reviewed and rationalised these estimates, eliminating unnecessary allocations. As a result, Rs 44,527 crore has been earmarked for school education, marking a real increase of around Rs 2,176 crore over the previous year’s actual spending,” he said.
Rajmohan added that the Finance Secretary had clarified the figures and assured that the funds would be utilised efficiently to benefit students, teachers, and the overall school education system.