MP News: Since 2018, Over 2,000 National Scholarship Cases Pending In State

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Poor mobile network in far-flung areas, depriving students from registering on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP), pupils switching schools without informing, or those of nomadic communities moving with their families, are some of the reasons for pending cases of National Means-Cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMS) in Madhya Pradesh.

The scheme provides selected government school students from Classes 9 to 12 with a Rs 12,000 scholarship per year. According to the NMMS office, there are 2,000-2,500 pending scholarship cases in the state since 2018.

A senior officer said other common issues include discrepancies between a student’s Aadhaar and bank account name, or the Aadhaar not being linked to the account. These factors also add to the pendency. The Rajya Shiksha Kendra oversees the application process in the state.

Officials at the NMMS office are trying to clear the backlog by tracing eligible students. Once tracked, they are taken to the district-level help centre so that they can avail the scheme. 

“We have six months in a year to trace the student and help him in availing the scholarship benefit,” said an officer of the School Education department.

When students reach out

There are cases wherein eligible students have reached college without availing the scholarship. When such students come with a query regarding their pending scholarship, their documents are sent to the Centre so that they can get the scholarship. This year, there are 600 students who are yet to do their registration in the state. 

‘Trying, hopeful’

NMMS Senior Lecturer Anuradha said, “We are trying to clear the pending scholarship cases and are hopeful of disposing of them at the earliest.”