Singapore Government Education BudgetSingapore Government Education Budget
Official government education spending from SingStat. FY2026 budget $16.45B (2.0% of GDP); $16,038 per primary and $21,610 per university student. Tables M850011 + M850291.
In FY2026 the Singapore government budgeted $16.45 billion for education — 2% of GDP and up 8.8% on FY2025's $15.12 billion. Per student, that is $16,038 a year for a primary pupil, $20,580 for a secondary student and $21,610 for a university undergraduate. School levels saw the biggest jump: primary, secondary and JC per-student spending each rose about 10–11% year on year. Figures are official, from SingStat Tables M850011 and M850291 (Ministry of Education).
Total Budget
Education FY2026
University
Per Student 2026
Secondary
Per Student 2026
Primary
Per Student 2026
What changed: FY2025 → FY2026 (per student)
School-level funding rose sharply; tertiary held steady.
Government Education Spending Per Student (2021-2026)
Annual recurrent operating expenditure by education level
Spending Per Student by Level (2026)
Annual recurrent expenditure per student in Singapore dollars
Data Sources
Expenditure Per Student Data
- • Source: Singapore Department of Statistics (SingStat)
- • Table ID: M850291 ↗
- • Provider: Ministry of Education (MOE)
- • FY2025: Budgeted estimates
- • FY2024: Revised estimates
Key Statistics (FY2026)
- • Total budget: $16.45B (2% of GDP)
- • University: $21,610 per student
- • JC: $20,588 per student
- • Secondary: $20,580 per student
- • Primary: $16,038 per student
Analysis: what the FY2026 budget shows
A steadily growing budget
Total government education spending has climbed steadily — from $13.06 billion in 2022 to $16.45 billion budgeted for 2026, up about a quarter in four years. As a share of the economy it sits at 2% of GDP in 2026, up from 1.9%.
Schools get the biggest 2026 boost
The standout in the FY2026 budget is school-level funding. Recurrent spending per student rose to $16,038 at primary (up 10.7% on 2025), $20,580 at secondary (+10.6%) and $20,588 at junior college (+10.6%) — the largest single-year increases in the series. Tertiary spending was steadier: universities eased slightly to $21,610 per student and polytechnics to $18,971.
School-level per-student funding jumped about 10–11% in FY2026 — the biggest one-year rise in the series.
SingStat M850291
Spending is not what families pay
These figures are what the government spends, not what families pay. Heavy subsidies mean Singaporean students cover only a fraction of the true cost — a citizen undergraduate pays a few thousand dollars a year in tuition against the $21,610 the state spends per head. That gap is the public subsidy.
What this means for families
These are per-student government costs, not fees. Because of heavy subsidies, what a Singaporean family pays is a small fraction of the amounts above. If you want to compare the out-of-pocket cost of different pathways, see our household education cost breakdown.
FY2026 Expenditure Per Student (Real Data)
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