Education ministry starts NMMS registration for Class 9 to 12; apply before November 30

NEW DELHI: The ministry of education has started the online registration process of National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMS) Scheme on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP), scholarships.gov.in, for the year 2023-24. The registration will be open from October 1 to November 30.

Under the NMMS scheme, meritorious students of Classes 9 to 12, who belong to economically weaker sections, are awarded scholarships to reduce their dropout after Class 8 and encourage them to continue their education at the secondary stage. The ministry said one lakh fresh scholarships are awarded to selected students from Class 9 annually and upon their continuation/renewal in Classes 10 to 12 for students studying in state government, government-aided, and local body schools. The students are awarded a scholarship of Rs 12,000 per annum.

The central sector scheme is boarded on the NSP – a one-stop platform for scholarship schemes given to students. The scholarships are disbursed directly into the bank accounts of selected students by electronic transfer through the public financial management system (PFMS) following direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode.

NMMS eligibility criteria

Students whose parental income from all sources is not more than ₹3,50,000 per annum are eligible for the scheme. The students must have secured at least 55% marks or equivalent grade in the Class 7 examination to appear in the selection test for the award of scholarship. Students belonging to SC and ST categories will be given 5% relaxation in the minimum qualifying marks.

Also Read | CAG suspects fraud, corruption in distribution of post-matric scholarship to Odisha students

The scholarship applications undergo two levels of verification on the National Scholarship Portal. The first is at the institution or school level by the institute nodal officer (INO) and at second by the district nodal officer (DNO).