Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (11th November 1888 – 22nd February 1958) was the first Minister of Education. His term of office was from 15th August 1947 to 22nd January 1958. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was a member of the Indian National Congress and became the first Minister of Education of independent India under Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the Republic of India. 

After Ministry of Education came to be known as the Ministry of Human Resource Development, P V Narasimha Rao (28th June 1921 – 23rd December 2004) took charge of the ministry under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. P V Narasimha Rao was a member of the Indian National Congress. He was in charge of the ministry from 25th September 1985 to 25th June 1988. P V Narasimha Rao was the 9th Prime Minister of India. He was the Prime Minister of India from 21st June 1991 to 16th May 1996. Simultaneously he was also in charge of the Minister of Defence from 6th March 1993 to 16th May 1996 and the Minister of External Affairs from 31st March 1992 to 18th January 1994. He was the Minister of Home Affairs from 12th March 1986 to 12th May 1986 under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and from 19th July 1984 to 31st December 1984 under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He was also the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 30th September 1971 to 10th January 1973.

Ministry of Education was the former name of the Ministry of Human Resource Development until 25th September 1985. Ministry of Human Resource Development is responsible for human resources development in India. This ministry is divided into two departments named as Department of School Education and Literacy (deals with primary, secondary and higher secondary education along with literacy) and Department of Higher Education (deals with university education) respectively. Prakash Javadekar is the Minister of Human Resource and Development (MHRD).