National Means Cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme : mhrd.gov.in

Organization : Ministry of Human Resource Development
Scholarship Name : National Means Cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme
Country: India

Website : https://www.education.gov.in/
Guidelines: https://www.scholarships.net.in/uploads/1376-Scheme.pdf

Update : NSP NMMSS National Means Cum Merit Scholarship 2018-19 : www.scholarships.net.in/25510.html

National Means Cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme:

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.

The amount of scholarship is proposed to be Rs.6000/- per annum.

Scholarship of 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.

The Scheme:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Scholarships on the basis of the criteria prescribed above. Each State/UT will further allocate their quota of scholarship district wise on similar basis.

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.

Procedure for Selection of Awardee Students:

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)

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.

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.

Duration of the Test:

Each test will be of 90 minutes duration. Children with disability will be given extra time, as applicable.

NCERT will provide a uniform set of guidelines to all States/UTs for carrying out the examination and promote evenness of evaluation.

Declaration of Results:

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.

Disbursement of Scholarships:
A student can avail only one Scholarship under any scheme.

The awardees will be asked to open Joint account with parents in State Bank of India, which has core banking facility;

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;

The state will identify the awardees and hand over the list of beneficiaries to SBI for payment of scholarship;