Post-Matric Scholarship for SC and ST Students, Assam

What is the Post-Matric Scholarship for SC and ST students in Assam?

Post-Matric Scholarship for SC and ST students is a centrally sponsored scholarship, implemented in Assam by the Directorate for Welfare of Scheduled Castes for SC students and by the Directorate of Welfare of Plain Tribes and Backward Classes (WPT&BC) for Scheduled Tribe students. The scholarship supports students of these communities from Class 11 onwards, that is, after matriculation, which is what "post-matric" means: right through to postgraduate and professional courses.

Two separate central schemes sit behind the single label. The Post Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Caste students is administered by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and the Post Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Tribe students by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Both are delivered to Assam students through the same channel, the National Scholarship Portal at scholarships.gov.in, and both work on the same two-part benefit design.

The first part is the reimbursement of non-refundable compulsory fees charged by the institution: admission fee, tuition and the other compulsory heads that a recognised institution levies and does not return. The second part is a living and study allowance. Under the revised structure for Scheduled Caste students, this is paid as an annual academic allowance graded by course group and by whether the student stays in a hostel: running up to roughly Rs 13,500 a year for hostellers in the highest course group and down to a few thousand rupees for day scholars in the lowest group. Under the Scheduled Tribe scheme it continues to be paid as a monthly maintenance allowance, again graded by course group and hosteller status. The exact rate applicable to your course group is published in the scheme guidelines and shown on the National Scholarship Portal when you select your course, check it there rather than relying on any secondary summary, because the groupings have been revised.

Main features

• Covers Class 11 and above, including degree, postgraduate and professional courses.
• Pays the non-refundable compulsory fees charged by the institution.
• Adds a graded academic or maintenance allowance, higher for hostellers.
• Paid by Direct Benefit Transfer into the student's own Aadhaar-seeded account.
• Applied for free, online, on the National Scholarship Portal.
• Renewable annually, not automatic.

Who is eligible for the SC/ST Post-Matric Scholarship?

You can apply if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe notified for Assam, and hold a caste certificate from a competent revenue authority.
• You have passed Class 10 and are studying in Class 11 or any higher course: higher secondary, diploma, degree, postgraduate or a recognised professional or technical programme.
• Your institution is recognised and listed on the National Scholarship Portal, so that it can verify your application online.
• Your family's annual income from all sources is within the ceiling set in the central guidelines for the scheme. The ceiling is stated in the scheme guidelines published on the portal each year and is the figure your income certificate must satisfy.
• You have a bank account in your own name, seeded with your Aadhaar.
• You are studying in regular, full-time mode as required by the scheme.

You cannot apply if:

• You are below Class 11. A post-matric scholarship does not cover Classes 1 to 10; students at that stage look to pre-matric schemes instead.
• Your family income exceeds the notified ceiling. This is verified against the income certificate, not a self-declaration.
• You do not hold a valid SC or ST certificate issued by a competent authority. A certificate from another state for a caste not notified in Assam will not be accepted for Assam's directorates.
• Your institution is not listed on the National Scholarship Portal. Without an institute node the application cannot be verified and dies at that stage.
• You are repeating a stage of education for which you have already drawn the scholarship, or you failed and are repeating the same class.
• You are drawing another scholarship for the same purpose in the same year. The portal de-duplicates on Aadhaar and flags the conflict.
• You are enrolled in a correspondence or distance mode where the scheme restricts the benefit to regular students.

More than one child of the same family can generally be supported, subject to the conditions in the current guidelines. This is not a one-per-family scheme in the way many state benefits are.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the SC/ST Post-Matric Scholarship in Assam

1. Get the certificates first. Obtain your SC or ST caste certificate and an income certificate from the Circle Officer of your revenue circle. Assam issues both through sewasetu.assam.gov.in as well as at the circle office, and they take days to weeks — start before the scholarship window opens, not after.
2. Open or check a bank account in your own name and get it seeded with your Aadhaar at the branch. A parent's account will not work, and an un-seeded account is the single most common reason a sanctioned scholarship fails to arrive.
3. Register on the National Scholarship Portal at scholarships.gov.in using your own mobile number and email. Complete the one-time registration (OTR) process the portal requires and note your registration ID.
4. Log in and select the correct scheme, Post Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Caste Students, or Post Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Tribe Students, and select Assam as your state of domicile.
5. Fill the application form: personal details, category, Aadhaar, family income, institution, course, course group, hosteller or day-scholar status and bank details. Enter your name exactly as printed on your Aadhaar.
6. Upload the scanned documents in the sizes and formats the portal specifies, and submit the application. Download and save the PDF of your submitted application.
7. Get your institution to verify it. The scholarship does not move until the institute node verifies your application on the portal. Follow up with your college scholarship in-charge personally; institutional inaction, not state rejection, stalls most claims.
8. Track the application on the portal until the state directorate sanctions it and the payment status changes.

Applications are free. No cyber cafe, agent or intermediary can improve your chances, and no official will ask for your OTP or a fee.

How to apply offline or with help

There is no paper application route for this scholarship, the National Scholarship Portal is the only channel. Students without reliable internet access have three practical options:

1. Use the college computer laboratory and the scholarship in-charge, who is required to help students file and is the person who will verify the application anyway.
2. Use a Common Service Centre, which can help you fill and upload the form for a small government-notified service charge.
3. Use a Public Facilitation Centre or Citizen Service Centre for the underlying Assam certificates. The income and caste certificates you need before the scholarship form can be completed.

How to check your scholarship status

1. Log in to scholarships.gov.in with your registration ID and password.
2. Open the Application Status or Track Payment option for the current academic year.
3. Read which stage the application is at: Applied, Verified by Institute, Verified by State, Sanctioned or Paid. Each stage has a different owner and therefore a different person to chase.
4. If it is stuck at Verified by Institute, the issue is with the state directorate. If it has not reached that stage at all, the issue is with your college.

Why Post-Matric Scholarship applications fail

• Institution has not verified the application on the portal. This is the largest single cause and it is fixed by walking into the college office, not by waiting.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT credit bounces even after sanction.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the bank account and the marksheet.
• Income certificate above the ceiling, or issued by an authority the scheme does not recognise.
• Caste certificate defective: wrong format, expired validity, or issued by an authority outside the competent list.
• Institution not listed on the National Scholarship Portal, which makes verification impossible.
• Duplicate application or an overlapping scholarship claim flagged on Aadhaar.
• Missed the window. The portal closes on the announced date. For AY 2026-27 the portal listed 31 October 2026 as the closing date for student renewal applications, and dates for fresh applications are announced separately each year.

Where to get help

• National Scholarship Portal helpdesk, reachable through the Help and Contact section at scholarships.gov.in, for portal, login and OTR problems.
• Your institution's scholarship in-charge, for verification delays, the step that blocks most Assam students.
• Directorate for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Assam, for SC scholarship sanction and payment queries.
• Directorate of Welfare of Plain Tribes and Backward Classes (WPT&BC), Assam, for ST scholarship sanction and payment queries.
• Circle Officer of your revenue circle, and sewasetu.assam.gov.in, for the caste and income certificates that feed the application.

Post-Matric Scholarship money is not discretionary and it is not a favour. If your certificates are valid, your institution is listed and your account is Aadhaar-seeded, the claim is an entitlement. The work is in getting those three things right before the window opens, and in physically following up with the college until the application shows as verified.