Assam BOCW Welfare Board - Educational Assistance

What is Assam BOCW Welfare Board Educational Assistance?

Assam BOCW Welfare Board Educational Assistance is a class-wise annual grant paid to the children of registered construction workers, from primary school right through postgraduate study. The Assam Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board, a tripartite body under the Labour Welfare Department of the Government of Assam, funds it from the one per cent welfare cess collected on the cost of construction work in the state.

According to the Commissionerate of Labour, Assam, the amounts rise with the level of study: Rs 1,500 for Classes 1 to 4, Rs 2,750 for Classes 5 to 7, Rs 4,000 for Classes 8 to 10, Rs 7,000 for Classes 11 and 12 or ITI, Rs 10,000 for a degree course and Rs 20,000 for postgraduate study. For higher studies such as IIT, engineering and medical courses at government institutions, the Board meets the full cost rather than a fixed slab. The Commissionerate also lists a scholarship of Rs 100 a month for eligible school-going children.

The design is deliberate. Construction work is seasonal and migratory, and children in construction-worker households are among those most likely to leave school when a family moves for work or when a parent is injured. The rising slabs are meant to keep a child in the system precisely at the points where drop- out is most common; after Class 8, after Class 10 and at the transition to a degree course.

What are the educational assistance amounts, class by class?

The jump from Rs 4,000 at Class 10 to Rs 7,000 at Class 11 or ITI is the single largest proportional step in the table, and the ITI route is worth noting: a construction worker's child who takes an ITI trade qualifies at the same Rs 7,000 level as a Class 11 or 12 student, which makes vocational training financially neutral rather than a fallback.

Who is eligible for BOCW educational assistance in Assam?

A family can claim if:

• The parent is a registered beneficiary of the Assam BOCW Welfare Board with a live registration card under the BOCW Act, 1996.
• The child is enrolled in a recognised school, ITI, college or university and can produce an admission receipt or bonafide certificate.
• The child passed the previous class or year, evidenced by a marksheet.
• The relationship between the registered worker and the student can be proved by a birth certificate, school record or ration card.

A family cannot apply, or is not eligible, if:

• The parent is not registered with the Assam BOCW Welfare Board. Working on construction sites without registration creates no entitlement for the child.
• The parent's registration has lapsed for non-payment of contribution and no condonation is sought.
• The applicant is a contractor, supervisor or employer rather than a registered construction worker.
• The child has failed and is repeating the same class, since the previous year's pass marksheet is the basis of the annual claim.
• The same academic year has already been claimed for that child. The grant is one payment per child per academic year.

Under the BOCW Act, 1996, a construction worker aged 18 to 60 years who has worked in building or other construction work for at least 90 days in the preceding twelve months may register as a beneficiary. Every education claim flows from that registration.

What documents are required?

For engineering, medical and IIT claims, keep every original fee receipt, including hostel and examination fees where these are charged by the institution, because the benefit at that level is reimbursement of actual cost rather than a fixed figure.

How to apply for Assam BOCW educational assistance

1. Complete the child's admission for the new academic year and collect the admission receipt or bonafide certificate from the school, ITI, college or university.
2. Collect the previous year's marksheet and the fee receipts issued by the institution for the current year.
3. Take the parent's BOCW registration card to the district Labour office that issued it, and confirm the registration is live before filing.
4. Fill the educational assistance claim form at the district Labour office, entering the worker's registration number, the child's name, the class or course, and the bank account to which payment should be made.
5. Attach all documents, registration card copy, admission or bonafide certificate, previous marksheet, fee receipts, relationship proof, bank passbook copy and the student's Aadhaar.
6. Ask about the Rs 100 monthly scholarship for school-going children in the same visit, so both entitlements are recorded on one file.
7. Submit and take a dated acknowledgement with a diary number, then follow up after four to six weeks at the same counter.

How to check the status of an education claim

1. Return to the district Labour office with the diary number on the acknowledgement slip.
2. Ask whether the Inspector has verified the parent's registration and the child's enrolment.
3. Confirm the file has been forwarded to the Welfare Board for sanction, and for professional courses, whether the fee receipts have been accepted in full.
4. After sanction, check the bank credit against the class slab claimed. If the amount credited is lower than the published slab, ask in writing which receipts were disallowed.

Why educational assistance claims get rejected

• Parent's registration lapsed, by far the most common cause, since contributions often stop during off-season months.
• Bonafide certificate missing. An admission receipt alone is sometimes held insufficient for degree and postgraduate claims.
• Previous year's marksheet not attached, so the office cannot confirm the class being claimed for.
• Name mismatch between the marksheet, the birth certificate and the registration card, common where an Assamese name is transliterated differently by different offices. A notarised affidavit resolves this.
• Fee receipts photocopied but not attested, in professional course claims.
• Duplicate claim for the same child and academic year filed by both parents.
• Bank account of a minor student given without a guardian's operation facility, so the transfer fails.

Key dates and when to file each year

The Assam BOCW Welfare Board has not published a fixed statewide last date for educational assistance, and applications are received through the year. In practice the natural filing window is soon after admission to the new academic year, when the admission receipt, previous marksheet and fee receipts are all in hand together. Filing at that point avoids the situation, common in these claims, where a family reaches the office with the marksheet but the institution has already closed its counter for bonafide certificates.

Educational assistance must be claimed afresh every academic year. There is no rolling sanction that continues automatically from Class 5 to Class 12.

Other Board benefits the same family can claim

The Assam BOCW Welfare Board runs a package of benefits on one registration number, and a household filing an education claim is often eligible for several:

• Maternity benefit, Rs 20,000, available twice.
• Marriage assistance; Rs 25,000 for up to two children, subject to five years of membership.
• Medical assistance: Rs 1,000 a day for the first five days of hospitalisation and Rs 200 a day thereafter, capped at Rs 20,000.
• Annual health check-up: Rs 5,000.
• Interest-free tools loan — up to Rs 20,000.
• Housing loan: up to Rs 5,00,000 for a flat, Rs 2,00,000 for land and Rs 3,00,000 for construction.
• Pension from age 60, Rs 2,000 a month plus Rs 100 for each completed year of membership.

Grievance redressal and contact

• Commissionerate of Labour, Assam, Shram Bhawan, Guwahati-07
• Email, labour.commissioner@assam.gov.in and labourcommissionerassam@yahoo.com
• District Labour office, files and sanctions the claim, and receives complaints about delay
• Online services; eodb.assam.gov.in for registration of workers and establishments under the BOCW Act

Educational assistance is free to apply for. No school agent, contractor or middleman is authorised to charge a construction worker's family for filing the claim or for releasing the grant, and any such demand should be reported in writing to the Commissionerate of Labour, Assam.