The
Centrally Sponsored Scheme “National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme
(NMMSS)” was launched in May, 2008. The objective of the scheme is to award
scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to arrest
their drop out at class VIII and encourage them to continue the study at
secondary stage. Scholarship of Rs.6000/- per annum (Rs.500/- per month) per
student is awarded to selected students every year for study in classes from IX
to XII in Government, Government aided and local body schools. There is quota
of scholarships for different states/UTs. Students whose parental income from
all sources is not more than Rs. 1,50,000/- are eligible to avail the
scholarships. There is reservation as per State Government norms. The selection
of students for the scholarships was being made though an examination conducted
by the State Governments/UT administration alongwith the National Talent Search
Examination (NTSE) first Stage-I examination. For academic year 2013-14 onward,
separte examination for selection of students for NMMS Scholarships is being
conducted by the State Governments. Scholarships are disbursed by the State
Bank of India directly into the accounts of students on quarterly basis
CENTRALLY SPONSORED
NATIONAL MEANS-CUM-MERIT SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME
1.0 The Scheme: 1.1 Under this scheme, it is proposed to
award 100,000 scholarships to the gifted or meritorious students whose parental
income is not more than Rs 1,50,000/- per annum from all sources. Each State
/UT shall have fixed quota of scholarship which will be decided on the basis of
enrolment of students in Class VII and VIII in the State/UT concerned and
population of children of concerned age group of class VII and VIII. The scheme
would provide reservation to different categories of students as per the
State/UT norms; as different States/UTs have their own norms of reservation.
However, the total number of scholarships to a particular State UT may be
restricted to the allocation made by the Central Government. 1.2 These
scholarships will be provided quarterly to the students studying as regular
students in class IX in government, local body and government-aided schools.
The scholarships will be paid from class IX till class XII for a maximum period
of four years. 1.3 For fixing the scholarship to States/UTs, 2/3rd weightage
would be given to enrolment of students in classes VII and VIII and 1/3rd
wightage would be given to population of children of relative age group for
class VII and VIII. 1.4 For fixing the 2/3rd weightage on the basis of
enrolment of students in classes VII and VIII. For fixing the 1/3rd weightage
population figures as per 2001 census may be relied upon. 1.5 Out of total
scholarships each State/UT will be allocated a fixed number of scholarships on
the basis of the criteria prescribed above. Each State/UT will further allocate
their quota of scholarship district wise on similar basis. 1.6 The amount of
scholarship is proposed to be Rs.6000/- per annum @ Rs. 500/- per month. 1.7 The
States/UTs are already conducting the examination for nominating the students
for the national level (second stage) examination conducted by the NCERT. The
same examination shall be used for selection of candidates for the award of
Means-cum-Merit Scholarships in the State/UT. ..2.. ..2.. 2.0 Procedure for
Selection of Awardee Students: 2.1 Each State/UT will conduct its own test for
selection of students for the award of the Means-cum-Merit Scholarship. The
State Level Examination may consist of the following two tests. (i) Mental
Ability Test (MAT) (ii) Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) 2.2 Mental Ability Test
may consist of 90 multiple-choice questions testing verbal and non-verbal
meta-cognitive abilities like reasoning and critical thinking. The questions in
the test may be on analogy, classification, numerical series, pattern
perception, hidden figures etc. 2.3 Scholastic Aptitude Test may consist of 90
multiple-choice questions covering subjects namely, science, social studies and
mathematics as taught in classes VII and VIII. 2.4 Duration of the Test Each
test will be of 90 minutes duration. Children with disability will be given
extra time, as applicable. 2.5 NCERT will provide a uniform set of guidelines
to all States/UTs for carrying out the examination and promote evenness of
evaluation. 3.0 Declaration of Results 3.1 For selecting the students, the
following conditions may apply: (i) The students must pass both the tests i.e.
MAT and SAT with at least 40% marks in each. For the reserved category this cut
off will be 32% marks. (ii) The parental income of the students should not be
more than Rs. 1.50 lakh per annum from all sources. (iii) At the time of
selection for the award of scholarship the candidate must have scored at least
55% marks or equivalent grade in Class VIII examination. There will be 5 %
relaxation for SC/ST. (iv) The awardees should satisfy the eligibilities and
the conditions mentioned in the scheme. 4.0 Disbursement of Scholarships 4.1 A
student can avail only one Scholarship under any scheme. ..3.. ..3.. 4.2 The
awardees will be asked to open Joint account with parents in State Bank of
India, which has core banking facility; 4.3 SBI will ensure that their branches
and its associates SBI Indore, Patiala, Mysore, Hyderabad, Travancore,
Saurashtra, Bikaner and Jaipur will open account of such awardees without any
initial deposit/minimum deposit charges and will issue ATM-cum- Debit Cards;
4.4 The state will identify the awardees and hand over the list of
beneficiaries to SBI for payment of scholarship; 4.5 The State Government / UT
Administration will scrutinize the claim bills for payment of scholarship and
subsequently their continuance and submit the list of eligible awardees to SBI
for payment of scholarship. The awardees should get minimum of 55% marks in
Class IX and XI and 60% in Class X for continuance of scholarship (relaxable by
5% for SC/ST candidates); 4.6 SBI will ensure that the scholarship is paid to
awardees on quarterly basis (Rs. 1500/- each quarter) after getting the list
from each state; 4.7 SBI will instruct some of its branches to coordinate with
the State Education Department for payment of scholarship; 4.8 Wherever SBI
does not have its branches, the candidates will be asked to open their account
in the public sector banks, which have Electronic Clearing System (ECS)
facility. The SBI and its associates will transfer the scholarship on quarterly
basis in the account of awardees. 5. General Eligibility Conditions 5.1 An
Awardee is eligible for the scholarship provided he/she: (i) takes up studies
in approved courses. (ii) maintains good conduct as certified by the Head of
the College/Institution and continues his/her studies as a regular student in
Government/Local Body/Government aided school. (iii) does not absent himself/herself
without proper leave. (iv) takes up studies on a whole time basis. (v) does not
take up any job. 5.2 No scholarship shall be available for studies abroad for
any course. 5.3 No claim for scholarship arrears will be entertained after the
expiry of 12 months of the academic session for which one has applied for the
claim. 5.4 In case any awardee leaves his/her course of study within one month
of registration/admission, no scholarship shall be paid to him/her. ..4.. ..4..
5.5 In case awardee is not able to appear at the annual examination due to
serious illness, one should send the medical certificate through the Head of
the Institution within three months of one’s falling ill. The duration of
illness should be clearly certified by a specialist, who is a Registered
Medical Practitioner. The facility will be available to the awardee to continue
the same course in which one is studying provided the principal or the head of
the institution certifies that the overall performance of the awardee during the
year is 50% or above. 5.6 The awardee must join the next class/desired course
within 3 months of the declaration of the result of the previous class/course.
5.7 Scholarship shall be deemed to be discontinued with any gap of one academic
session in studies at any time due to any reason. 5.8 Scholarship once
discontinued on the basis of the rules of disbursement of scholarship cannot be
revived under any circumstances. 5.9 All rules are subject to change from time
to time, as and when required, which will be binding on all awardees. 6.0
Eligibility and other conditions for starting and continuing of Scholarship at
Secondary and Higher Secondary Stage 6.1 The awardees should get clear
promotion from class VIII to Class IX for being eligible for starting the scholarship.
6.2 The scholarship at the Secondary and higher Secondary stage or equivalent
Classes IX to XII is payable for a maximum period of four years for studies in
India only. 6.3 No scholarship at this stage is payable for studying
diploma/certificate level courses. 6.4 For continuing the scholarship in class
X and XII the awardees should get clear promotion from class IX to class X and
from class XI to class XII in the first attempt with 55% marks (relaxable by 5%
for SC/ST) 6.5 The awardees must obtain a minimum of 60 per cent marks in Class
X (relaxable by 5% for SC/ST) examination or equivalent examination for
continuation of the scholarship at higher secondary stage. 6.6 In case an
institution does not conduct an examination at the end of Class IX and /or
Class XI, the scholarship for the second year will be continued on the
submission of a certificate to this effect from the Head of the Institution.
..5.. ..5.. 7.0 Strategy to implement the Scheme 7.1 For selecting the students
for this scheme, the first level examination already conducted by the
States/UTs for the NCERT’s, NTS Scheme may be utilized with the following
conditions:- (i) Registration of students for Means-cum-Merit Scholarship
Scheme may be made separately from the registration of students made for NTS
Scheme. (ii) The students shall have minimum of 55% marks or equivalent grade
in Class VII examination for appearing in selection test for award of
scholarship (Relaxable by 5% for SC/ST). (iii) The students should be studying
as regular student in government, local body and government-aided schools. (iv)
Parental income of the students should not be more than Rupees One Lakh Fifty
Thousand per annum from all sources. 8.0 The scheme will be made operational
from the financial year 2008-09 and the selection test for the first batch will
be conducted for Class IX students in July, 2008 as a separate test. Thereafter
the examination will be conducted along with the first stage examination of NTS
for class VIII students from 2008 onwards. 9.0 The scheme will be critically
reviewed after two years.
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