Minister of Education (India)

The minister of education, formerly the minister of human resources development (1985–2020), is the head of the Ministry of Education and one of the cabinet ministers of the Government of India.

Minister of Education
Śikṣā Mantrī
Emblem of India
Flag of India
Incumbent Dharmendra Pradhan since 7 July 2021
Ministry of Education
Member of	Union Cabinet
Reports to	President of India Prime Minister of India Parliament of India
Residence	New Delhi, India
Nominator	Prime Minister of India
Appointer	President of India on the advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	5 year
Formation	15 August 1947

Cabinet ministers

• Note: MoS, I/C – Minister of State (Independent Charge)

#	Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
				From	To	Period
Minister of Education
1			Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888–1958) MP for United Provinces (1947–1952) MP for Rampur (1952–1957)	15 August 1947	13 May 1952	9 years, 245 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru I	Jawaharlal Nehru
				13 May 1952	17 April 1957			Nehru II
Minister of Education and Scientific Research
(1)			Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888–1958) MP for Gurgaon	17 April 1957	22 January 1958	280 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru III	Jawaharlal Nehru
2			K. L. Shrimali (1909–2000) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan (MoS)	22 February 1958	10 April 1962	4 years, 47 days
Minister of Education
(2)			K. L. Shrimali (1909–2000) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan	10 April 1962	31 August 1963	1 year, 143 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru IV	Jawaharlal Nehru
3			Humayun Kabir (1906–1969) MP for Basirhat	31 August 1963	21 November 1963	82 days
4			M. C. Chagla (1900–1981) Rajya Sabha MP for Maharashtra	21 November 1963	27 May 1964	2 years, 357 days
				27 May 1964	9 June 1964			Nanda I	Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting)
				9 June 1964	11 January 1966			Shastri	Lal Bahadur Shastri
				11 January 1966	24 January 1966			Nanda II	Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting)
				24 January 1966	13 November 1966			Indira I	Indira Gandhi
5			Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1905–1977) Rajya Sabha MP for Assam	14 November 1966	13 March 1967	119 days
6			Triguna Sen (1905–1998) Rajya Sabha MP for Tripura	16 March 1967	14 February 1969	1 year, 335 days		Indira II
Minister of Education and Youth Services
7			V. K. R. V. Rao (1908–1991) MP for Bellary	14 February 1969	18 March 1971	2 years, 32 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira II	Indira Gandhi
Minister of Education and Culture
8			Siddhartha Shankar Ray (1920–2010) MP for Raiganj	18 March 1971	20 March 1972	1 year, 2 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III	Indira Gandhi
9			Saiyid Nurul Hasan (1921–1993) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh (MoS, I/C)	24 March 1972	24 March 1977	5 years, 0 days
10			Pratap Chandra Chunder (1919–2008) MP for Calcutta North East	24 March 1977	28 July 1979	2 years, 126 days	Janata Party	Desai	Morarji Desai
11			Karan Singh (born 1931) MP for Udhampur	28 July 1979	14 January 1980	170 days	Indian National Congress (Urs)	Charan Singh	Charan Singh
12			B. Shankaranand (1925–2009) MP for Chikkodi	14 January 1980	17 October 1980	277 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV	Indira Gandhi
13			Shankarrao Chavan (1920–2004) MP for Nanded	17 October 1980	8 August 1981	295 days
14			Sheila Kaul (1915–2015) MP for Raebareli (MoS, I/C)	8 August 1981	31 October 1984	3 years, 145 days
				31 October 1984	31 December 1984			Rajiv I	Rajiv Gandhi
Minister of Education
15			K. C. Pant (1931–2012) MP for New Delhi	31 December 1984	25 September 1985	268 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Rajiv II	Rajiv Gandhi
Minister of Human Resource Development
16			P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Ramtek	25 September 1985	25 June 1988	2 years, 274 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Rajiv II	Rajiv Gandhi
16			P. Shiv Shankar (1929–2017) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat	25 June 1988	2 December 1989	1 year, 160 days
–			V. P. Singh (1931–2008) MP for Fatehpur (Prime Minister)	2 December 1989	10 November 1990	343 days	Janata Dal	V. P. Singh	V. P. Singh
18			Raj Mangal Pande (1920–1993) MP for Deoria	21 November 1990	21 June 1991	212 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	Chandra Shekhar	Chandra Shekhar
19			Arjun Singh (1930–2011) MP for Satna	23 June 1991	24 December 1994	3 years, 184 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Rao	P. V. Narasimha Rao
–			P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal (Prime Minister)	24 December 1994	9 February 1995	47 days
20			Madhavrao Scindia (1945–2001) MP for Gwalior	9 February 1995	17 January 1996	342 days
–			P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal (Prime Minister)	17 January 1996	16 May 1996	120 days
–			Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for Lucknow (Prime Minister)	16 May 1996	1 June 1996	16 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee I	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
21			S. R. Bommai (1927–2007) Rajya Sabha MP for Odisha	5 June 1996	21 April 1997	1 year, 286 days	Janata Dal	Deve Gowda	H. D. Deve Gowda
				21 April 1997	18 March 1998			Gujral	Inder Kumar Gujral
22			Murli Manohar Joshi (born 1934) MP for Allahabad	19 March 1998	13 October 1999	6 years, 64 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee II	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
				13 October 1999	22 May 2004			Vajpayee III
19			Arjun Singh (1930–2011) Rajya Sabha MP for Madhya Pradesh	23 May 2004	22 May 2009	4 years, 364 days	Indian National Congress	Manmohan I	Manmohan Singh
23			Kapil Sibal (born 1948) MP for Chandni Chowk	28 May 2009	28 October 2012	3 years, 153 days		Manmohan II
24			M. M. Pallam Raju (born 1962) MP for Kakinada	28 October 2012	26 May 2014	1 year, 210 days
25			Smriti Irani (born 1976) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat	27 May 2014	5 July 2016	2 years, 39 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I	Narendra Modi
26			Prakash Javadekar (born 1951) Rajya Sabha MP for Madhya Pradesh, till 2018 Rajya Sabha MP for Maharashtra, from 2018	5 July 2016	30 May 2019	2 years, 329 days
27			Ramesh Pokhriyal (born 1959) MP for Haridwar	31 May 2019	29 July 2020	1 year, 59 days		Modi II
Minister of Education
(27)			Ramesh Pokhriyal (born 1959) MP for Haridwar	29 July 2020	7 July 2021	343 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi II	Narendra Modi
28			Dharmendra Pradhan (born 1969) MP for Sambalpur	7 July 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 167 days
								Modi III

Ministers of state

#	Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
				From	To	Period
Minister of State for Education and Scientific Research
1			K. L. Shrimali (1909–2000) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan (MoS)	17 April 1957	22 January 1958	280 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru III	Jawaharlal Nehru
Minister of State for Education
2			Ramchandra Martand Hajarnavis (1908–1976) MP for Bhandara (Minister of Cultural Affairs)	13 June 1964	29 October 1965	1 year, 138 days	Indian National Congress	Shastri	Lal Bahadur Shastri
3			Sher Singh Kadyan (1917–2009) MP for Rohtak	13 March 1967	14 February 1969	1 year, 338 days		Indira II	Indira Gandhi
4			Bhagwat Jha Azad (1922–2011) MP for Bhagalpur
Minister of State for Education and Youth Services
5			Bhakt Darshan (1912–1991) MP for Garhwal	18 February 1969	18 March 1971	2 years, 28 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira II	Indira Gandhi
Minister of State for Education and Culture
6			Saiyid Nurul Hasan (1921–1993) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	4 October 1971	24 March 1972	172 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III	Indira Gandhi
7			Dhanna Singh Gulshan MP for Bathinda	14 August 1977	28 July 1979	1 year, 348 days	Janata Party	Desai	Morarji Desai
8			Renuka Devi Barkataki (1932–2017) MP for Gauhati	16 August 1977		1 year, 346 days
9			Rashida Haque Choudhury MP for Silchar	30 July 1979	14 January 1980	168 days	Janata Party (Secular)	Charan Singh	Charan Singh
10			Sheila Kaul (1915–2015) MP for Raebareli	24 November 1980	8 August 1981	257 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV	Indira Gandhi
Minister of State for Human Resource Development
11			Margaret Alva (born 1942) Rajya Sabha MP for Karnataka (Women and Child Development, Youth Affairs and Sports)	25 September 1985	2 December 1989	4 years, 68 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Rajiv II	Rajiv Gandhi
12			Sushila Rohatgi (1921–2021) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh (Education and Culture)		12 May 1986	229 days
13			Krishna Sahi (born 1931) MP for Begusarai (Education and Culture, until 1988; Culture, from 1988)	12 May 1986	2 December 1989	3 years, 204 days
14			Laliteshwar Prasad Shahi (1920–2018) MP for Muzaffarpur (Education and Culture, until 1989; Education, from 1989)	14 February 1988		1 year, 291 days
15			M. G. K. Menon (1928–2016) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan (Education)	20 January 1990	23 April 1990	93 days	Janata Dal	V. P. Singh	V. P. Singh
16			Chimanbhai Mehta (1925–2010) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat	23 April 1990	10 November 1990	201 days
17			Bhagey Gobardhan (1934–1993) MP for Mayurbhanj	21 November 1990	20 February 1991	91 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	Chandra Shekhar	Chandra Shekhar
18			Mamata Banerjee (born 1955) MP for Calcutta South (Youth Affairs and Sports; Women and Child Development)	21 June 1991	17 January 1993	1 year, 210 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Rao	P. V. Narasimha Rao
19			Mukul Wasnik (born 1959) MP for Buldhana (Youth Affairs and Sports)	18 January 1993	16 May 1996	3 years, 119 days
20			Basavarajeshwari (1921–2008) MP for Bellary	19 January 1993	15 September 1995	2 years, 239 days
21			Selja Kumari (born 1962) MP for Sirsa (Education and Culture)	15 September 1995	16 May 1996	244 days
22			Krupasindhu Bhoi (born 1942) MP for Sambalpur (Education)
23			Vimla Verma (1929–2019) MP for Seoni (Women and Child Development)
24			Kanti Singh (born 1957) MP for Bikramganj	1 June 1996	29 June 1996	28 days	Janata Dal	Deve Gowda	H. D. Deve Gowda
25			Muhi Ram Saikia (1923–2007) MP for Nowgong (Education)	29 June 1996	21 April 1997	296 days	Asom Gana Parishad
26			R. Dhanuskodi Athithan (born 1953) MP for Tiruchendur (Youth Affairs and Sports)				Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)
(25)			Muhi Ram Saikia (1923–2007) MP for Nowgong (Education)	21 April 1997	19 March 1998	332 days	Asom Gana Parishad	Gujral	Inder Kumar Gujral
(26)			R. Dhanuskodi Athithan (born 1953) MP for Tiruchendur (Youth Affairs and Sports)	1 May 1997		322 days	Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)
27			Uma Bharti (born 1959) MP for Khajuraho	19 March 1998	13 October 1999	1 year, 208 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee II	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
28			Sumitra Mahajan (born 1943) MP for Indore	13 October 1999	1 July 2002	2 years, 261 days		Vajpayee III
29			Jaisingrao Gaikwad Patil (born 1949) MP for Beed		27 May 2000	227 days
30			Syed Shahnawaz Hussain (born 1968) MP for Kishanganj	30 September 2000	8 February 2001	131 days
31			Rita Verma (born 1953) MP for Dhanbad	1 September 2001	29 January 2003	1 year, 150 days
32			Jaskaur Meena (born 1947) MP for Dausa	29 January 2003	22 May 2004	1 year, 114 days
33			Ashok Kumar Pradhan (born 1953) MP for Khurja	29 January 2003	24 May 2003	115 days
34			Vallabhbhai Kathiria (born 1954) MP for Rajkot	30 January 2003	9 January 2004	344 days
35			Sanjay Paswan (born 1962) MP for Nawada	24 May 2003	22 May 2004	364 days
36			Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi (born 1956) MP for Darbhanga (School Education and Literacy)	23 May 2004	22 May 2009	4 years, 364 days	Rashtriya Janata Dal	Manmohan I	Manmohan Singh
(24)			Kanti Singh (born 1957) MP for Arrah (Higher Education)	23 May 2004	29 January 2006	1 year, 251 days
37			Daggubati Purandeswari (born 1959) MP for Bapatla (till 2009) MP for Visakhapatnam (from 2009) (Higher Education)	29 January 2006	22 May 2009	3 years, 113 days	Indian National Congress
				28 May 2009	28 October 2012	3 years, 153 days		Manmohan II
38			E. Ahamed (1938–2017) MP for Malappuram (School Education and Literacy)	12 July 2011		1 year, 108 days	Indian Union Muslim League
39			Jitin Prasada (born 1973) MP for Dhaurahra	28 October 2012	26 May 2014	1 year, 210 days	Indian National Congress
40			Shashi Tharoor (born 1956) MP for Thiruvananthapuram
41			Upendra Kushwaha (born 1960) MP for Karakat (School Education and Literacy)	9 November 2014	11 December 2018	4 years, 32 days	Rashtriya Lok Samta Party	Modi I	Narendra Modi
42			Ram Shankar Katheria (born 1964) MP for Agra (Higher Education)		5 July 2016	1 year, 239 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
43			Mahendra Nath Pandey (born 1957) MP for Chandauli (Higher Education)	5 July 2017	3 September 2017	60 days
44			Satya Pal Singh (born 1955) MP for Baghpat (Higher Education)	3 September 2017	30 May 2019	1 year, 269 days
45			Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre (born 1959) MP for Akola	31 May 2019	29 July 2020	1 year, 59 days		Modi II
Minister of State for Education
45			Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre (born 1959) MP for Akola	29 July 2020	7 July 2021	343 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi II	Narendra Modi
46			Annpurna Devi (born 1970) MP for Kodarma (School Education and Literacy)	7 July 2021	9 June 2024	2 years, 338 days
47			Subhas Sarkar (born 1953) MP for Bankura (Higher Education)
48			Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (born 1952) MP for Inner Manipur (Higher Education)
49			Sukanta Majumder (born 1979) MP for Balurghat (Higher Education)	10 June 2024	Incumbent	194 days		Modi III
50			Jayant Chaudhary (born 1978) MP of Rajya Sabha for Uttar Pradesh (Higher Education)	10 June 2024	Incumbent	194 days	Rashtriya Lok Dal

External links

• List of HRD Ministers