The Minister of Education, formerly the Minister of Human Resources Development (1985–2020), is the head of the Ministry of Education and a member of the Union Cabinet and one of the portfolios of the union cabinet in the Government of India.
Cabinet ministers Note: MoS I/C Minister of State (Independent Charge)
#Portrait MinisterTerm of officePolitical party MinistryPrime Minister From To Period Minister of Education 1 Maulana Abul Kalam Azad15 August194717 April1957 Indian National Congress Nehru I Jawaharlal Nehru Nehru II Minister of Education and Scientific Research(1)Maulana Abul Kalam Azad17 April195722 February1958 [†] Indian National Congress Nehru III Jawaharlal Nehru2K. L. Shrimali(MoS)22 February195810 April1962 Minister of Education(2)K. L. Shrimali10 April196231 August1963 Indian National Congress Nehru IV Jawaharlal Nehru3Humayun Kabir31 August196321 November1963 4 M. C. Chagla21 November196313 November1966 Nanda IGulzarilal Nanda ShastriLal Bahadur Shastri Nanda IIGulzarilal Nanda Indira I Indira Gandhi5Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed14 November196613 March19676Triguna Sen16 March196714 February1969 Indira II Minister of Education and Youth Services7V. K. R. V. Rao14 February196918 March1971Indian National Congress (R) Indira IIIndira Gandhi Minister of Education and Culture8Siddhartha Shankar Ray18 March197120 March1972 Indian National Congress (R) Indira III Indira Gandhi9Saiyid Nurul Hasan(MoS, I/C)24 March197224 March197710Pratap Chandra Chunder24 March197728 July1979Janata Party DesaiMorarji Desai11Karan Singh28 July197914 January1980Indian National Congress (Urs) Charan SinghCharan Singh12B. Shankaranand14 January198017 October1980 Indian National Congress (I) Indira IV Indira Gandhi13Shankarrao Chavan17 October19808 August1981 14 Sheila Kaul(MoS, I/C)8 August198131 December1984 Rajiv IRajiv Gandhi Minister of Education15K. C. Pant31 December198425 September1985Indian National Congress (I) Rajiv IIRajiv Gandhi Minister of Human Resource Development16P. V. Narasimha Rao25 September198525 June1988 Indian National Congress (I) Rajiv II Rajiv Gandhi17P. Shiv Shankar25 June19882 December198918V. P. Singh(Prime Minister)2 December198910 November1990Janata Dal V. P. SinghV. P. Singh19Raj Mangal Pande21 November199021 June1991Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) Chandra ShekharChandra Shekhar20Arjun Singh23 June199124 December1994 Indian National Congress (I) Rao P. V. Narasimha Rao21P. V. Narasimha Rao(Prime Minister)24 December19949 February199522Madhavrao Scindia9 February199517 January1996(21)P. V. Narasimha Rao(Prime Minister)17 January199616 May199623Atal Bihari Vajpayee(Prime Minister)16 May19961 June1996Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee IAtal Bihari Vajpayee 24 S. R. Bommai5 June199619 March1998 Janata Dal Deve GowdaH. D. Deve Gowda GujralInder Kumar Gujral 25 Murli Manohar Joshi19 March199822 May2004 Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee II Atal Bihari Vajpayee Vajpayee III(19)Arjun Singh23 May200422 May2009 Indian National Congress Manmohan I Manmohan Singh26Kapil Sibal28 May200928 October2012 Manmohan II27M. M. Pallam Raju28 October201226 May201428Smriti Irani26 May20145 July2016 Bharatiya Janata Party Modi I Narendra Modi29Prakash Javadekar5 July201630 May2019Minister of Education 30Ramesh Pokhriyal30 May20197 July2021Bharatiya Janata Party Modi II Narendra Modi31Dharmendra Pradhan7 July202125 July2026 Modi III32Pralhad Joshi 26 July2026Incumbent
Ministers of state
#PortraitMinisterTerm of officePolitical party MinistryPrime Minister From To Period Minister of State for Education and Scientific Research1K. L. Shrimali(MoS)17 April195722 February1958Indian National Congress Nehru IIIJawaharlal Nehru Minister of State for Education2Ramchandra Martand Hajarnavis(Minister of Cultural Affairs)13 June196429 October1965 Indian National Congress ShastriLal Bahadur Shastri3Sher Singh Kadyan 13 March1967 14 February1969 Indira II Indira Gandhi4Bhagwat Jha Azad Minister of State for Education and Youth Services5Bhakt Darshan18 February196918 March1971Indian National Congress (R) Indira IIIndira Gandhi Minister of State for Education and Culture6Saiyid Nurul Hasan4 October197124 March1972Indian National Congress (R) Indira IIIIndira Gandhi7 Dhanna Singh Gulshan14 August1977 28 July1979 Janata Party Desai Morarji Desai8Renuka Devi Barkataki16 August19779Rashida Haque Choudhury30 July197914 January1980Janata Party (Secular) Charan SinghCharan Singh10Sheila Kaul24 November19808 August1981Indian National Congress (I) Indira IVIndira Gandhi Minister of State for Human Resource Development11Margaret Alva(Women and Child Development,Youth Affairs and Sports) 25 September19852 December1989 Indian National Congress (I) Rajiv II Rajiv Gandhi12Sushila Rohatgi(Education and Culture)12 May198613Krishna Sahi(Education and Culture, until 1988;Culture, from 1988)12 May1986 2 December198914Laliteshwar Prasad Shahi(Education and Culture, until 1989;Education, from 1989)14 February198815M. G. K. Menon(Education)20 January199023 April1990 Janata Dal V. P. Singh V. P. Singh16Chimanbhai Mehta23 April199010 November199017 Bhagey Gobardhan21 November199020 February1991Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) Chandra ShekharChandra Shekhar18Mamata Banerjee(Youth Affairs and Sports;Women and Child Development)21 June199117 January1993 Indian National Congress (I) Rao P. V. Narasimha Rao19Mukul Wasnik(Youth Affairs and Sports)18 January199316 May199620Basavarajeshwari19 January199315 September199521Selja Kumari(Education and Culture) 15 September1995 16 May1996 22 Krupasindhu Bhoi(Education)23Vimla Verma(Women and Child Development)24Kanti Singh1 June199629 June1996Janata Dal Deve Gowda H. D. Deve Gowda25Muhi Ram Saikia(Education) 29 June1996 21 April1997 Asom Gana Parishad26R. Dhanuskodi Athithan(Youth Affairs and Sports)Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)(25)Muhi Ram Saikia(Education)21 April1997 19 March1998Asom Gana Parishad Gujral Inder Kumar Gujral(26)R. Dhanuskodi Athithan(Youth Affairs and Sports)1 May1997Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)27Uma Bharti19 March199813 October1999 Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee II Atal Bihari Vajpayee28Sumitra Mahajan 13 October19991 July2002 Vajpayee III29Jaisingrao Gaikwad Patil27 May200030Syed Shahnawaz Hussain30 September20008 February200131Rita Verma1 September200129 January200332Jaskaur Meena29 January200322 May200433 Ashok Kumar Pradhan24 May200334Vallabhbhai Kathiria30 January20039 January200435Sanjay Paswan24 May200322 May200436Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi23 May200422 May2009 Rashtriya Janata Dal Manmohan I Manmohan Singh(24)Kanti Singh29 January2006 37 Daggubati Purandeswari29 January200622 May2009 Indian National Congress28 May2009 28 October2012 Manmohan II38E. Ahamed12 July2011Indian Union Muslim League39Jitin Prasada 28 October2012 26 May2014 Indian National Congress40Shashi Tharoor41Upendra Kushwaha 9 November201411 December2018Rashtriya Lok Samta Party Modi I Narendra Modi42Ram Shankar Katheria5 July2016 Bharatiya Janata Party43Mahendra Nath Pandey5 July20163 September201744Satya Pal Singh3 September201730 May2019 Minister of State for Education 45Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre30 May20197 July2021 Bharatiya Janata Party Modi II Narendra Modi46Annpurna Devi 7 July2021 9 June2024 47Subhas Sarkar48Rajkumar Ranjan Singh49Sukanta Majumdar10 June 2024Incumbent Modi III50Jayant ChaudharyRashtriya Lok Dal
References
External links List of HRD Ministers