The Ministry of Education (MoE) has approved the continuation of the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS) till 2025-26 with minor changes in eligibility criteria such as increasing income ceiling from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh per annum, officials said on Tuesday.
The objective of the scheme is to award scholarships to meritorious students of economically-weaker sections to deter them from dropping out at class 8 and encourage them to continue their education at secondary stage.
“One lakh fresh scholarships of Rs 12,000 per annum (Rs 1,000 per month) per student are awarded to selected students of class 9 every year and their continuation and renewal in classes 10 to 12 for study in state government, government-aided and local body schools under the scheme,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Students are selected for award of scholarships through an exam conducted by state and UT governments. The scheme is boarded on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP). Scholarships are disbursed directly into the bank accounts of students by electronic transfer through Public Financial Management System (PFMS) following DBT mode. Under the scheme, 100 per cent funds are provided by the Centre,” it said.
This is a continuing scheme and since its launch in 2008-09, 22.06 lakh scholarships have been sanctioned till 2020-21 involving an expenditure of Rs 1,783.03 crore.
“It is proposed to disburse scholarships to 14.76 lakh students with the financial outlay of Rs 1827 crore approved for the scheme,” it said.
Courtesy : The Indian Express