Govt approves continuation of National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship for EWS students

NEW DELHI: The central government has approved the continuation of the Central Sector National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMSS) for meritorious students of economically weaker sections for a period of five years.

The government has proposed to disburse scholarships to 14.76 lakh students with a financial outlay of Rs 1,827.00 crore approved for the scheme.

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The Centre has approved NMMSS for a period of five years i.e. from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with minor modifications in eligibility criteria such as increasing the income ceiling from Rs 1.5 lakh per annum to Rs 3.5 lakh per annum and revising the renewal criteria under the scheme.

“The objective of the scheme is to award scholarships to meritorious EWS students to arrest their drop-out at Class 8 and encourage them to continue their education at secondary stage,” the ministry of education said.

"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 or renewal in Classes 10 to 12 for study in state government, government-aided and local body schools under the scheme," it said.

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Students are selected for the award of scholarships through an examination conducted by the 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. 100% funds under the scheme are provided by Central Government.

This is a continuing scheme and since the launch of the scheme in 2008, 22.06 lakh scholarships have been sanctioned till 2020-21 involving an expenditure of Rs 1,783.03 crore.