New Delhi: Education cess is an additional levy on the basic tax liability and total education cess currently stands at 3%. The education cess comprises 2% primary education cess and 1% secondary & higher education cess. The primary education cess is credited to Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh (PSK) and is used to meet part of expenditure on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) & Mid Day Meal (MDM) Schemes.  There is no separate fund to credit secondary and higher education cess and funds required for secondary and higher education are directly allocated through Budgetary provisions.

For 2014-15, Rs 35986.13 crore collected under Education Cess while in 2013-14 the figure stood at Rs 33902.37 crore.  In 2015-16 (provisional figure up to January/February), fund collected as Education Cess was Rs 21030.48 crore.

This information was given by the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani on Monday in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question.