National Means cum Merit Scholarship Scheme: In News
The State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) recently released the application forms for the National Means cum Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMS) for various states.
- It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched in May, 2008.
- Objective is to award scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to arrest their dropout at class VIII and encourage them to continue the study at the secondary stage.
- NMMSS is on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP), a one-stop platform for scholarship schemes given to students.
- One lakh fresh scholarships are awarded by the Ministry of Education to selected students every year for study in classes from IX to XII in recognized Government, Government-aided, and local body schools.
- There is a quota of scholarships for different states/UTs.
- The amount of scholarship is 12000/- per annum (Rs. 1000/- per month) per student.
- These scholarships are disbursed directly into the bank accounts of selected students by electronic transfer.
- Students whose parental income from all sources is not more than Rs. 350,000/- per annum.\
- The students must have a minimum of 55% marks or an equivalent grade in the Class VII examination (relaxable by 5% for SC/ST students).
- The students should be studying as regular students in a Government, Government-aided and local body school.
- The students studying in the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), and residential schools are not eligible for the scholarships under the NMMSS.
- There is reservation as per State Government norms.
- Each State and UT conducts its own test to select students for awarding the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship. The test is conducted at the stage of class VIII.
- The awardees should get a minimum of 60% marks in Class X for continuation of scholarship (relaxable by 5% for SC/ST candidates) in the next higher classes.
- For continuing the scholarship in class X and XII, the awardees should get a clear promotion from class IX to class X and from class XI to class XII in the first attempt.
