National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMS) Scheme 2009-2010
Last Date of Submission of Application Form: 31th August, 2009
Date of Examination: 8th November, 2009
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 weightage 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 State / 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.
2.0 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 State/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 lest 40% marks in each. For the reserved category this cut off will be 32% marks.
(ii) The parental income of the students should not 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.
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.
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 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 State.
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 any 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.
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 NTSE for class VIII students from 2008 onwards.
9.0 The scheme will be critically reviewed after two years.