Additional Scholarship for ST Students for Higher Studies

What is the Additional Scholarship for ST Students?

Additional Scholarship for ST Students is a Union Territory scheme of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration, administered by the Directorate of Tribal Welfare from the Secretariat Complex at Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair). The scheme gives Scheduled Tribe students of the islands a scholarship over and above the central pre-matric and post-matric ST scholarships, to help them stay in higher education.

The Directorate of Tribal Welfare places three ST scholarships on the National Scholarship Portal under the head "State Scheme - Andaman and Nicobar Islands": the Pre-Matric Scholarship for ST Students, the Post-Matric Scholarship for ST Students, and this Additional Scholarship. The first two are Centrally Sponsored Schemes and carry a parental income ceiling of Rs 2.50 lakh per annum. The Additional Scholarship is the UT-funded one, and its defining feature is that it has no income ceiling at all.

That distinction matters in the islands. The Scheduled Tribe population is small and geographically scattered; Census 2011 recorded 27,168 Nicobarese, 380 Jarawa, 229 Shom Pen, 101 Onge, 44 Great Andamanese and 15 Sentinelese, and higher education almost always means travel away from home, often to the mainland. An income-tested scholarship would exclude tribal families in salaried work whose children still face the same cost of leaving the islands to study.

Key features

• UT scheme of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration, funded outside the Centrally Sponsored ST scholarships.
• No parental income ceiling: every ST domicile of the islands qualifies.
• Applied for online on the National Scholarship Portal, in the same window as the pre-matric and post-matric ST scholarships.
• Fresh and renewal applications are invited together each year.
• Paid by Direct Benefit Transfer into the student's Aadhaar-linked account.

Who is eligible for the ST Additional Scholarship?

You can apply if:

• You hold a valid Scheduled Tribe certificate issued in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• You are a domicile of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• You are enrolled in a recognised course of higher studies.
• Your Aadhaar is current and linked to your bank account and mobile number.

Family income is not a bar. The directorate's 2026-27 notice states plainly that under the Additional Scholarship Scheme, all Scheduled Tribe students who are domiciles of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are eligible irrespective of their family income.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You do not hold a Scheduled Tribe certificate. OBC students of the islands have a separate Grant of Additional Scholarship (UT) run by the Directorate of Social Welfare, with a Rs 8 lakh income ceiling.
• You are not a domicile of the islands, even if you are ST and studying in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• You are applying on paper. Only online applications through the National Scholarship Portal are accepted.
• Your institution refuses or fails to complete institute-level verification in the portal — the application cannot progress without it.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the ST Additional Scholarship online

1. Open the National Scholarship Portal at scholarships.gov.in during the application window for the academic year.
2. Complete the One Time Registration (OTR) with Aadhaar-based face authentication if you have not registered before, and note down the OTR number.
3. Log in and select "State Scheme - Andaman and Nicobar Islands", then choose Additional Scholarship for ST Students.
4. Enter your personal, academic and bank details exactly as they appear on your Aadhaar, mark sheets and passbook.
5. Upload the ST certificate, domicile proof, mark sheet, bonafide certificate, bank passbook and photograph.
6. Submit the application before 31 December 2026 for the 2026-27 year, and save the application ID.
7. Follow up with your school or college so that institute verification is completed on schedule.

If you are stuck at any step, use the helpdesk in your own school or college. Dedicated helpdesks have been set up across island institutions specifically to help Scheduled Tribe beneficiaries fill in the NSP form, and a central helpdesk operates at the Directorate of Tribal Welfare, Secretariat Complex, Sri Vijaya Puram. This matters most for students in the Nicobar group and North and Middle Andaman, where connectivity is intermittent and a single trip to a helpdesk is more reliable than repeated attempts on a weak line.

Key dates for 2026-27

The ST scholarship calendar in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands runs later than the OBC one. The Directorate of Social Welfare's OBC schemes for the same 2026-27 year closed on 31 October 2026, while the ST schemes stayed open to 31 December 2026. Do not carry the OBC deadline across.

How to check your application status

1. Log in at scholarships.gov.in using your OTR credentials.
2. Open the applicant dashboard or "Check Your Status".
3. Read the stage recorded against your application ID: submitted, defective, institute verified, or DNO/SNO verified.
4. If the record shows defective, correct it in the window that opens on 1 January 2027 for 2026-27.

Why ST scholarship applications fail, and how to fix them

• Bank account not linked to Aadhaar. The single most common cause of a failed payment, and the one the directorate warns about by name.
• Aadhaar details out of date, an old mobile number blocks OTP and face authentication at the OTR stage.
• Institute verification not completed by the school or college nodal officer before the cut-off.
• ST certificate not produced or not from a competent island authority.
• Applying under the wrong scheme head, for instance under a central ST scholarship rather than the State Scheme head where the Additional Scholarship sits.
• Applying after 31 December. The portal closes and no offline substitute is accepted.

Where to get help

• Directorate of Tribal Welfare, Secretariat Complex, Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair), which runs the central helpdesk for ST scholarship applicants.
• Helpdesks in every school and college of the islands, set up specifically to assist ST students with the NSP application.
• National Scholarship Portal help section at scholarships.gov.in for OTR, face authentication and upload problems.

Applying is free. No fee is charged for registration on the National Scholarship Portal, and no official will ask a student for an Aadhaar OTP.