National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme

The National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS), a Central Sector Scheme, was launched in May 2008. This scheme provides scholarships for meritorious students studying in classes 9 to 12 belonging to economically weaker sections. The NMMSS is on-boarded on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP). 

The students must appear for the selection test under this scheme to obtain scholarships. The students who qualify in the selection test are eligible to apply for obtaining the scholarship under the NMMSS. The students qualifying in the selection test need to register on the NSP to receive the scholarship amount.

Objective of NMMSS

The objective of the NMMSS is to award scholarships for meritorious students belonging to the economically weaker sections to prevent their dropout at class 8. It aims at encouraging meritorious students to continue their study and complete their secondary stage of education.

Benefits of NMMSS

This scheme awards one lakh new scholarships every year to the selected students studying in class 9. It also facilitates the continuation/renewal of scholarship of the selected students for classes 10 to 12 for their studies in Government-aided, State Government and Local body schools.

The amount of scholarship provided under the NMMSS is Rs.12,000 per student every year at Rs.1,000 every month. The scholarship rate was enhanced from Rs.6,000 to Rs.12,000 per year, with effect from 1 April 2017.

Eligibility for Selection Test under NMMSS

The following students are eligible to appear in the selection test for award of scholarship under this scheme:

• The students’ parental income must not be more than Rs.1,50,000 per annum from all sources. 
• A student must have secured a minimum of 55% marks or equivalent grade in the class 7 examination to appear in the selection test for award of scholarship under the NMMSS. However, relaxation by 5% is provided for students belonging to SC and ST category.
• Students need to be studying as regular students in Government-aided, State Government and local body schools. 
• The students studying in the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and residential schools are not eligible for the scholarships under the NMMSS.

Selection Test for Scholarship under NMMSS

Each State and UT conducts its own test to select students for awarding the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship. The state-level examinations will consist of the following two tests:

• Mental Ability Test (MAT)
• Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

The Mental Ability Test consists of 90 multiple-choice questions testing non-verbal and verbal meta-cognitive abilities like critical thinking and reasoning. The questions in the test can be on classification, analogy, pattern perception, numerical series, hidden figure etc. 

The Scholastic Aptitude Test consists of 90 multiple-choice questions covering subjects on social studies, science and mathematics taught in classes 7 and 8. Each test (MAT and SAT) will be of 90 minutes duration. 

The following conditions will apply for the selection of students for scholarship under the NMMSS:

• The students need to pass both the tests, i.e. MAT and SAT, with at least 40% aggregate marks taken together for the two tests. For the SC/ST students, the cut off is 32% aggregate marks. 
• The students need to have scored at least 55% marks or equivalent grades in class 8 examinations for selection of awarding the scholarship. A 5% relaxation is provided for SC/ST students.

Application for Receiving Scholarship under NMMSS

The students of the different States and UTs, who have qualified in the MAT and SAT test should apply for receiving the scholarship under the NMMSS. The students should apply by registering themselves on the NSP. 

To register on the NSP, the students need to create an account and log in to the NSP. After logging into the NSP, they need to click on the ‘Department of School Education and Literacy’ option on the home page and fill and submit the NMMSS registration form.

The applications registered on the NSP are verified by the prescribed State authorities online on the portal. The final list of eligible students is provided to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) by the NSP team for sanctioning the scholarships.

The MHRD will sanction funds and release them to the State Bank of India (SBI), the implementing bank for the NMMSS. The SBI disburses the scholarship amount to the students directly by Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the students’ bank accounts through the Public Financial Management System (PFMS).