• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved changes in the centrally sponsored Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme to benefit more than four crore Scheduled Caste (SC) students in the next five years and approved a total investment of Rs 59,048 crore for the purpose.

What is the scheme about?

• The Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Caste (PMS-SC) allows students to pursue any course from Class XI, with the government providing for the cost of education.

• The scheme by ministry of social justice and empowerment is the single largest intervention by the central government for educational empowerment of SC students. 

• The scheme has been in operation since 1944.

• This is a centrally sponsored scheme under which central assistance is released to state governments/UTs for expenditure incurred by them under the scheme over and above their respective committed liability. 

• The scholarships are available for studying in India only and are awarded by the government of states/UTs to which the applicant actually belongs.

• The objective of the scheme is to provide assistance to SC students studying at post-matriculation or post-secondary stage to enable them to complete their education.

Eligibility criteria

• To receive scholarship under the scheme, the candidates have to fulfill the following criteria: 

a) The student should be an Indian national belonging to the SC community and studying in post-matric classes.

b) Parent/guardian’s income should not exceed Rs 2.5 lakh per annum.

• The financial assistance includes maintenance allowance, reimbursement of non-refundable compulsory fee charged by educational institutions, book bank facility and other allowances as follows:

1) Maintenance allowance amounting to Rs 380 to 1,200 per month for hostellers and Rs 230 to 550 per month for day scholars for 10 months in a year.

2) Reimbursement of compulsory non-refundable fees.

3) Study tour charges upto Rs 1,600.

4) Thesis typing/printing charges for research scholars upto Rs 1,600.

5) Book allowance amounting to Rs 1,200 for students pursuing correspondence courses.

6) Book bank facility for specified courses ranging from Rs 2,400 to Rs 7,500.

7) Additional allowance for students with disabilities, for the complete duration of the course.

Impact of the scheme

• The scheme, along with other measures of the government, has been successful in increasing the enrollment of SC students in post-matric education.   

• The scheme has resulted in considerably reducing the gap in Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for higher education (age group 18- 23) between “All students” and “SC students.  

• The Gross Enrollment Ratio increased from 6 per cent (2002-03) to 23 per cent (2018-19).

What are the modifications to the scheme?

• Of the total investment approved by the Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi, 60 per cent, which amounts to Rs 35,534, would be spent by the Centre and the rest by the state government. 

• This replaces the existing ‘committed liability’ system and brings greater involvement of the central government in this scheme. 

• The focus of the scheme would be on enrolling the poorest students, timely payments, comprehensive accountability, continuous monitoring and total transparency.

• A campaign will be launched to enroll the students, from the poorest households passing Class X, in the higher education courses of their choice. 

• It is estimated that 1.36 crore students belonging to poor families, who are currently not continuing their education beyond Class X, would be brought into the higher education system in the next five years.

• The scheme will be run on an online platform with robust cyber security measures that would assure transparency, accountability, efficiency, and timely delivery of the assistance without any delay. 

• The states will undertake fool-proof verification of the eligibility, caste status, Aadhaar identification and bank account details on the online portal.

• The Cabinet also approved further strengthening of monitoring mechanisms through conduct of social audits, annual third-party evaluation, and half-yearly self-audited reports from each institution. 

• The central assistance which was around Rs 1,100 crore annually during 2017-18 to 2019-20 would be increased more than five times to be around Rs 6,000 crore annually during 2020-21 to 2025-26.

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