Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr Virendra Kumar on the Pre-Matric scholarship 2022 at the Rajya Sabha, announced that the scholarship from now onwards would cover only the students studying in 9th and 10th standards in government schools. The scholarship was formerly awarded to students from classes 1st to 10th.
To a question raised by MP John Brittas, the minister replied, “Only students studying in classes 9 and 10 are covered under the pre-matric scholarship scheme for OBC.”
What is Pre-Matric scholarship 2022?
Earlier, the Pre-Matric scholarship was used to offer financial aid to students from classes 1 to 10. According to the previous eligibility criteria, a student who belongs to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, or any other minority communities was considered eligible.
From this year itself, applications shall only be evaluated if one is a student of either class 9 or class 10. This implies that only students enrolled in the 9th and 10th standards are to be considered as eligible candidates for the Pre-Matric scholarship 2022.
Regarding this, the Ministry of Minority Affairs’ Pre Matric Scholarship 2022 has strictly instructed the Institute Nodal Officer (INO), District Nodal Officer (DNO), and State Nodal Officer (SNO).
The official notice issued on the website reads, “The Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 makes it obligatory for the Government to provide free and compulsory elementary education (classes I to VIII) to each and every child. Accordingly, only students studying in classes IX and X are covered under the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Likewise from 2022-23, the coverage under the Pre Matric Scholarship Scheme of the Ministry of Minority Affairs shall also be for classes IX and X only.”
Eligibility Criteria
Here are the eligibility conditions laid by the Ministry for the Pre-Matric scholarship 2022:
- Candidates must be students studying in classes 9 and 10
- They must belong to Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, or any other minority community
- In academics, they must have received at least 50% in their prior qualifying examination.
Beneficiaries Provided
The Pre-Matric scholarship 2022 scheme focuses on providing education to each and every corner of the country. This scheme contributes to the educational expenses of the students who belong to minority communities, so as to financially support their parents to send them to schools.
Collectively in the last five years, approximately 5.67 crore students have received the beneficiaries of the scheme to date. The table below shows the data for last three years.
| Year | Beneficiaries |
| 2019-20 | 94.52 lakh |
| 2020-21 | 166.20 lakh |
| 2021-22 | 34.43 lakh |
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