The ‘National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme’ (NMMSS) is a Central Sector Scheme that began in May 2008 with the goal of providing scholarships to deserving students from grades IX to XII. The National Scholarship Portal(NSP) has added the scheme on its portal.
Main Objective of this Scheme
- To provide scholarships to deserving students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in order to prevent them from dropping out of class VIII and encourage them to continue their studies and complete secondary school.
- Under the initiative, one lakh new scholarships will be awarded each year to selected students in class IX, with their continuation/renewal in classes X to XII for study in State Government, Government-aided, and Local Body institutions.
Amount of Scholarship
An amount of Rs. 12000/- per student per annum. The rate of scholarship has been enhanced from Rs. 6000/- to Rs. 12000/- per year with effect from 1st April 2017.
Eligibility Criteria For Applying
- Students who have a total parental income of less than Rs. 1,50,000/- per year are eligible for the scholarships.
- In order to appear in the scholarship selection test, the student must have a minimum of 55 per cent or comparable grade in Class VII (relaxable by 5 per cent for SC and ST students).
- The student must be enrolled in a government, government-aided, or local body school as a regular student. The scholarships are not available to NVS, KVS, or residential school students.
Criteria for selection
For freshly registered students
- At the stage of class-VIII, the NMMSS selection test is held.
- Each state and UT administers its own test to choose students for the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship. The test is given adequate exposure by the state and the UT.
- A student who meets the eligibility requirements must pass both the Mental Ability Test (MAT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) under the NMMSS with a combined score of at least 40% on both examinations. This cutoff is 32 per cent for students from the SC/ST groups
For Renewal of Scholarship
The student should get minimum of 55% marks in Class IX and XI, and a minimum of 60% in Class X for renewal of scholarship (For SC/ST candidates 5% relaxation is given in marks).
How to Apply For This Scholarship?
- To apply for this scholarship, students from different States and UTs, after qualifying the NMMSS selection test must register themselves on NSP portal.
- Online Verification of the application is done on the portal by the prescribed State authorities.
- The final list of eligible candidates, complete in all respect, is released by the NSP and provided to the MHRD for sanction of the scholarship.
- Following that, the Ministry of HRD sanctions funds and releases them to the State Bank of India (SBI), the Scheme’s implementing bank.
- Through the Public Financial Management System, the SBI distributes scholarships to students directly by electronic deposit into their bank accounts under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) through Public Financial Management System (PFMS).
