Organization : Directorate of Higher Secondary Education
Scholarship Name : Merit cum Means Scholarship For BPL Students 2016-17
Applicable State : Kerala
Website : http://dhsekerala.gov.in/
Notification : https://www.scholarships.net.in/uploads/12290-Notice.pdf
Merit cum Means Scholarship:
Government of Kerala has introduced a comprehensive merit-cum-means scholarship scheme for the Higher Secondary students of Government and Aided schools whose parents or guardians come under the BPL category. The scheme was introduced during 2007 – 2008. The amount of scholarship was fixed at Rs. 5000/-.
Related / Similar Scholarship : DHSE Kerala Merit cum Means Scholarship 2017-18
Selection of Beneficiaries:
The beneficiaries are selected at schools by a duly constituted committee as shown below. Selection Committee.
A Selection Committee is constituted with the following members for identifying the eligible beneficiaries:-
1. Principal. (Chairperson)
2. Headmaster/Headmistress of the school. (Member)
3. PTA President. (Member)
4. Staff Secretary. (Member)
5. A representative of the teaching staff elected by the staff council. (Member)
One of the members shall be a woman. The selection committee will select the eligible beneficiaries strictly as per the following guidelines.
Eligibility criteria:
The students of the Government and Aided Higher Secondary schools only are eligible for the BPL scholarship. Each school will be allotted a particular number of scholarships every year. The school selection committee shall select the eligible candidates from the applicants. The eligibility criterion of the schemeis merit cum means.
The following guidelines are issued for the selection of the eligible applicants:
a. The weightage of Grade Point Average (WGPA), without bonus points, of the SSLC/equivalent exam calculated at the time of admission to the first year course (Std. XI) is the criterion for deciding merit.
b. The BPL list published by the competent authority shall be taken as the criterion for deciding means.
c. If two or more candidates belonging to the BPL category have equal WGPA, the following additional criteria shall also be followed in the order of priority
i. Students whose parents are no more.
ii. Children of unwedded mothers.
iii. Candidates whose mother is a widow or legally separated or divorced or unwedded mothers.
iv. Students whose father alone is alive.
v. Candidates whose parents suffer from incurable disease like cancer, heart ailments, leprosy. TB, AIDS, Kidney ailments, stroke related paralysis, and lunacy.
vi. Children of differently abled parents.
vii. Either father or the mother engaged in any traditional industries like coir, cashew, beedi, handloom, pottery, brick or tile making industries, Match industries, etc.
viii. Parents having no land or house of his/her own.
d. The candidates who are eligible for the scholarship in the first year will be eligible for the same in the second year also provided he/she shall obtain D+ or above in the annual examination at least through two chances and whose percentage of attendance shall be at least 70%.
e. The eligible candidates belonging to the general category shall be selected by the Selection Committee at the school level. The selection of eligible candidates belonging to the SC/ST communities shall be done by the district level Review Committee from among the list ofcandidates selected by School Level Selection Committee.
The number of scholarships allotted to each district shall be intimated to the Review Committee by the Directors concerned. The candidates coming under the sports, arts and differently abled categories shall be selected by the Director from among the list forwarded by the school level selection committee.
f. The community status of Candidates belonging to SC/ST will be decided based on school records.
g. Medal winners of national and then state level sports/games events shall be considered for that category and certificates to that effect shall be produced by them. They will be ranked based on the position they achieved (First, Second and third). In the absence of medal winners, participation at the national and state level will also be considered.
h. Those who have scored A grade in the state school youth festival will be considered for that category.
i. The candidates who belong to the differently abled category shall produce the certificate from the competent medical board to the effect that they have at least 40% disability.
j. In the absence of candidates under ST category, the quota will be passed on to the SC and vice versa, and in the case of candidates under Sports and games/Arts/Differently abled categories, in the absence of eligible candidates, the balance number of scholarships will be shared by both remaining categories and in the case where no category remains, it will be allotted to the general category.
k. In the school level also, if eligible candidates are not available, the remaining scholarship will be passed over to the SC/ST pool in the same District.
l. The Selection Committee shall fill up the prescribed pro-forma for selection of eligible candidates and shall keep the same for future perusal and review.
Mode of Distribution of scholarships:
1. General Category – Directly from the DHSE to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries
2. SC/ST – Selection of beneficiaries by District Panchayaths fund is transferred directly to the beneficiary account.
3. Arts/Sports/IED – Directly from the DHSE to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries During 2016-17 the Government sanctioned uan amount of Rs. 700 lakhs for the distribution of 14,000 scholarships at the rate Rs. 5000/- per unit which will be distributed between VHSE and HSE as follows.