Even 0.1% of the expenditure on the Nashik Kumbh could have saved 125 schools from closure

Supreme Court Justice Prasanna B. Varale has said that even 0.1 percent of the funding for the Nashik Kumbh could save 125 Marathi schools.He made the remark during the inauguration ceremony of ‘smart classes’ at a high school in Dhule, Maharashtra.

He said the budget for the Kumbh Mela is Rs 34,000 crore, but funding for education is declining. He said he has no objection to spending on development projects, but it is not right to ignore basic education and schools.

Supreme Court Justice Prasanna B. Varale has compared the declining education budget in Maharashtra and the closure of state-run Marathi schools with the huge expenditure on major events such as the Nashik Kumbh Mela.

He said that these schools could have been saved by spending just Rs 32 crore. He said that the government allocates Rs 32,000 crore to Rs 34,000 crore for the Kumbh Mela and ₹11,000 crore for the corridor. If even only 0.1% of this amount, i.e. around Rs 32 crore, had been spent, 100 to 125 Marathi-medium schools that have shut down across the state could have been saved.

Justice Varale expressed concern that despite the growing student population, the education budget has continuously decreased instead of increasing. For several years, it has not even reached the 13% mark.(updated on 24th August 2026)