Post-Matric Scholarship for SC and ST Students (Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu)

What is the Post-Matric Scholarship for SC and ST students in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu?

Post-Matric Scholarship for SC and ST students in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is the union territory's implementation of the two centrally sponsored post-matric scholarship schemes, the scheme for Scheduled Caste students run by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and the scheme for Scheduled Tribe students run by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. In the territory both are administered by the Directorate of Education, Shiksha Sadan, behind the Collectorate, Moti Daman, working with the Social Welfare Department of the U.T. Administration.

"Post-matric" means the scholarship starts after Standard 10. The U.T. Administration's own published notices describe the scheme as applying to "Standard XI and onwards", and it issues two separate advertisements and application forms each year: one for fresh students entering the scheme, and one for renewal students already on it. Parallel notices exist for OBC students and for minority community students, which are different schemes with different income ceilings and should not be confused with this one.

The scholarship has two parts. The first is reimbursement of non-refundable fees actually charged by a government or government-recognised institution, tuition fee, admission fee, examination fee and other compulsory charges. The second is a maintenance allowance paid to help with living costs, which is higher for hostellers than for day scholars and higher for professional and postgraduate courses than for general degree courses. Both parts are paid by Direct Benefit Transfer into the student's own Aadhaar-seeded bank account.

Because the exact rates are notified by circular for each academic year, this guide does not quote a fixed rupee figure. Under the national guidelines the maintenance allowance is banded by course group, and course fees are reimbursed in full where the institution is a government one. The Directorate of Education's circular for the current year is the only correct source for the rates in force, and it is published alongside the year's advertisement.

Who is eligible for the SC and ST post-matric scholarship?

You can qualify if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe notified for Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and you hold a caste certificate in your own name from the competent revenue authority. Dadra and Nagar Haveli has a large Scheduled Tribe population, and the ST scholarship is the more widely used of the two in that district.
• You are a resident of the union territory. The territory's scholarship is for its own domiciled students; a student domiciled in Gujarat or Maharashtra applies under that state's scheme even if studying in Silvassa or Daman.
• You are studying in Standard 11 or any higher course; higher secondary, ITI or diploma, graduation, postgraduation, professional courses such as medicine, engineering, law and nursing, or research leading to MPhil or PhD.
• You are enrolled in a recognised institution, whether government, government-aided or a recognised private institution.
• Your family income is within the ceiling notified for the scheme, evidenced by an income certificate from the Mamlatdar or Collectorate.
• You have a bank account in your own name, seeded with Aadhaar.

You are not eligible if:

• You are in Standard 9 or 10. Those classes fall under the pre-matric scholarship, a separate scheme.
• You do not hold an SC or ST certificate. OBC and minority students have their own post-matric schemes, and the Directorate of Education advertises those separately.
• Your family income exceeds the notified ceiling.
• You are already receiving another scholarship or stipend for the same course in the same year. Double benefit is not permitted.
• You have failed and are repeating the same year of the same course. Renewal generally requires promotion to the next stage.
• You are not domiciled in the union territory, or you have submitted a caste certificate issued by another state without it being valid for the territory.

What documents are required for the scholarship?

How to apply for the post-matric scholarship

1. Watch for the year's advertisement. The Directorate of Education publishes a fresh notice and a renewal notice on ddd.gov.in each academic year, with the closing date printed on it. Check the notice board of your institution as well.
2. Register on the National Scholarship Portal. Go to scholarships.gov.in, create a one-time registration using your Aadhaar number and a mobile number you actually use, and note the application ID that is generated.
3. Fill the application form. Select Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu as your state or union territory, choose the correct scheme — post-matric for SC or for ST, and enter your institution, course, year of study and fee details exactly as printed on the fee receipt.
4. Upload the documents. Scan the caste certificate, income certificate, mark sheet, fee receipt, bonafide certificate and bank passbook page as clear PDFs or images within the size limit shown on the portal.
5. Submit and take a printout. Submit the form online and print the filled application with the application ID.
6. Get institutional verification. Hand the printout and self-attested photocopies to your institution's scholarship clerk. The institution verifies your enrolment and forwards the application to the Directorate of Education. An online application that is never verified by the institution will not be paid.
7. Follow up before the last date. Verification has its own cut-off, later than the student cut-off but still fixed. Confirm with the clerk that your application has been forwarded.

Students who cannot apply online, for example where an institution is not onboarded on the portal: should collect the printed form issued with the Directorate of Education's advertisement and submit it at the institution or at Shiksha Sadan, Moti Daman.

How do I check the status of my scholarship?

1. Log in to scholarships.gov.in with your application ID and check the status track, which shows whether the application is with the institution, with the department, or approved for payment.
2. Ask your institution's scholarship clerk for the verification date and the batch in which your file was forwarded.
3. Update your bank passbook. Payment arrives as a DBT credit, so a credit entry is proof of disbursement even when the portal is slow to update.
4. Where the portal shows approval but no money has arrived, the issue is usually Aadhaar seeding at the bank branch. Ask the branch to confirm that the account is DBT-enabled.

Why do applications get rejected, and how do you fix them?

• Caste certificate in the father's name. Get one issued in the student's own name; this single error accounts for a large share of rejections.
• Income certificate too old or from the wrong office. Obtain a current certificate from the Mamlatdar or Collectorate.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, or an account in a parent's name. Open or convert to an account in the student's own name and seed Aadhaar.
• Fee receipt missing, so the fee component cannot be computed. Attach the institution's receipt for the current year.
• Hard copy never submitted. Filling the online form is only half the process; institutional verification completes it.
• Duplicate scholarship declared. Withdraw one before claiming the other.
• Name spelt differently on Aadhaar, mark sheet and bank record. Make all three read identically before applying.

Key dates and renewal

The National Scholarship Portal window for post-matric scholarships typically opens around July and closes in October or November, with a further few weeks for institutional and departmental verification. The Directorate of Education prints the operative dates on the year's advertisement, and those dates prevail over any general expectation.

Renewal is required every academic year. A student who was paid last year must still file a renewal application in the new window, attaching the previous year's result. Missing the renewal window generally means losing that year's scholarship altogether, since there is no retrospective sanction.

Where do I complain?

• Directorate of Education, Shiksha Sadan, behind the Collectorate, Moti Daman; 0260-2230126, diredu-dd[at]ddd[dot]gov[dot]in.
• Social Welfare Department, U.T. Administration, through ddd.gov.in for SC and ST welfare matters.
• National Scholarship Portal helpdesk, for technical failures on scholarships.gov.in such as OTP or upload errors.
• CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in, the grievance route linked from the U.T. Administration's own website.

Applying is free. No institution or agent may charge a fee for filling the National Scholarship Portal form, and no scholarship is released against a payment to any middleman.