Reimbursement of Tuition Fees to SC/ST/OBC Students of Class I to XII (Delhi)

What is the Delhi tuition fee reimbursement scheme?

Reimbursement of Tuition Fees to SC/ST/OBC students of Class I to XII is a state-funded scholarship scheme of the Department for the Welfare of SC/ST/OBC/Minorities, Government of NCT of Delhi, run from B-Block, 2nd Floor, Vikas Bhawan, I.P. Estate, New Delhi-110002. The department lists nine scholarship schemes in total, five of them state schemes, and describes this one as "Reimbursement of Tuition Fees to the SC/ST/OBC students of Class I to XII, studying in recognized Public/Private schools of Delhi".

The scheme's purpose is to remove the fee barrier at a private or recognised school for a Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Class family whose income is under Rs 3 lakh a year. A place in a recognised Delhi school is often available to such a family through the EWS quota or on merit; what defeats them is the tuition, lab and library fee bill in the second and third year. The department reimburses that bill, up to Rs 48,000 per academic year.

A note on naming: the scheme is often searched for as the "Delhi tuition fee reimbursement scheme" or the "Delhi fee reimbursement yojana", and is sometimes wrongly described as an undergraduate scheme of the Directorate of Higher Education. It is neither. It is a school-level scheme, Class I to XII, run by the SC/ST/OBC Welfare Department. College and professional-course students of these categories are covered by a different scheme of the same department, the Merit Scholarship to SC/ST/OBC students of Colleges and Professional or Technical Institutions.

Key facts at a glance

• Maximum reimbursement: Rs 48,000 per academic year, or the actual fee paid
• Fees covered: tuition fee, lab fee and library fee
• Classes covered: I to XII
• Income ceiling: Rs 3,00,000 per annum
• Minimum marks: 50 per cent in the preceding year
• Minimum attendance: 70 per cent in the preceding year
• Filed on: edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in

Who is eligible for the Delhi tuition fee reimbursement?

A student can apply if:

• The student belongs to the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Class category, with a caste certificate issued in the name of the student or the father by the SDM or Deputy Commissioner (Revenue), GNCTD.
• Family income does not exceed Rs 3.00 lakh per annum, certified by a competent authority of Delhi and valid at the time of submission.
• The student is studying in Class I to Class XII in a school recognised by or affiliated to the Directorate of Education, GNCTD, or the municipal local bodies of Delhi.
• The student scored 50 per cent marks and above in the preceding year.
• The student had not less than 70 per cent attendance in the preceding year.
• The student has an active bank account in his or her own name, or jointly with a parent or guardian, seeded with the student's Aadhaar number.
• Original fee receipts for the current academic session are available for upload.

Where the SC caste certificate was not issued by the competent authority of the Government of NCT of Delhi, a Delhi domicile certificate must also be uploaded.

A student is not eligible if:

• The student is a repeater in a particular class. The guidelines state that repeaters will not be eligible for such benefits.
• Family income exceeds Rs 3 lakh per annum.
• The preceding year's marks were below 50 per cent, or attendance was below 70 per cent.
• The school is not recognised or affiliated to the Directorate of Education, GNCTD or Delhi's municipal local bodies.
• The student is in college or a professional course, this scheme stops at Class XII; the department's Merit Scholarship covers higher levels.
• The student does not belong to SC, ST or OBC.
• The caste certificate is in a name other than the student's or the father's, or is not from the SDM or Deputy Commissioner (Revenue), GNCTD.

What does the reimbursement cover, and how much is it?

The department's 2025-26 guidelines specify that tuition fees, lab fees and library fees are reimbursed, with a maximum reimbursement amount of Rs 48,000 or the actual fee paid, whichever is less.

That means three things in practice:

1. It is a reimbursement, not a waiver. The family pays the school first and the department refunds afterwards, which is why original fee receipts for the current session are a mandatory upload.
2. Only three heads are covered. Transport charges, uniform, books, annual function charges and other levies collected by a private school are outside the scheme.
3. Rs 48,000 is a ceiling, not an entitlement. A student whose annual tuition, lab and library fees total Rs 22,000 is reimbursed Rs 22,000.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Delhi tuition fee reimbursement scheme

1. Watch for the department's annual notification. The Department for the Welfare of SC/ST/OBC/Minorities publishes the guidelines and the application window for each academic session on scstwelfare.delhi.gov.in, under notifications.
2. Check that your school is on the eligible list. The department publishes a list of schools and colleges for scholarship schemes and fee reimbursement, covering the Directorate of Education, MCD, NDMC, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, the Delhi Cantonment Board, the Directorate of Technical Education and the Directorate of Higher Education.
3. Get the certificates ready. Obtain the caste certificate from the SDM or Deputy Commissioner (Revenue), GNCTD, and a fresh income certificate that will still be valid on the date you submit.
4. Collect the school papers: original fee receipts for the current session, the previous year's mark sheet showing 50 per cent or more, and proof of at least 70 per cent attendance.
5. Open or verify the student's bank account. It must be in the student's name or joint with a parent or guardian, must be active, and must be seeded with the student's Aadhaar.
6. Register on the Delhi e-District portal at edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in, which the department links to from its apply-now notification for scholarship and fee reimbursement.
7. Fill the application online with the student's details, school details, category, family income and bank particulars, and upload every document including the original fee receipts.
8. Submit before the closing date and save the acknowledgement or application number generated by the portal.
9. Track the application on the same portal using that number, and follow up with the department on 011-23379512 if it stalls.

How is the money paid?

Reimbursement is credited electronically to the student's own bank account, which the guidelines require to be active and seeded with the student's Aadhaar number. A joint account with a parent or guardian is expressly permitted, which matters for students in Class I to Class VIII who cannot ordinarily operate a single-name account.

Because the payment route is Aadhaar-seeded DBT, the two failure points are the same as in every other DBT scheme: an inactive account that the bank has frozen for want of KYC, and an unseeded Aadhaar. Both should be checked with the bank branch before the application is filed, not after the sanction is issued.

How does this scheme relate to the department's other scholarships?

The department runs nine schemes, and families often qualify for more than one across a child's education:

The Mukhyamantri Vidyarthi Pratibha Yojna is worth flagging for the same household, because its income ceiling is Rs 8 lakh rather than Rs 3 lakh, and because no income limit applies at all to a student who scored 75 per cent or more in the previous class. A family just above the Rs 3 lakh line for fee reimbursement may still qualify there.

Why do fee reimbursement applications get rejected, and how are they fixed?

• Income certificate expired. Delhi income certificates carry a validity period, and an expired certificate is the single most common rejection. Fix: apply for a fresh certificate through e-District before the scholarship window opens.
• Caste certificate in the mother's name or from another state. The guidelines ask for the student's or the father's name and a Delhi issuing authority. Fix: where the certificate is from another state, upload a Delhi domicile certificate as well.
• Photocopied fee receipts. The guidelines call for original fee receipts for the current academic session to be uploaded. Fix: scan the originals.
• Attendance below 70 per cent or marks below 50 per cent. No fix for the year in question; the conditions are absolute.
• Repeater in the class. Excluded outright by the guidelines.
• Bank account in a parent's sole name. Fix: open an account in the student's name, or convert to a joint account with the student as first holder, and seed the student's Aadhaar.
• School not on the recognised list. Fix: check the department's published school list before applying; an unrecognised school cannot be regularised at the application stage.

Help and grievance redressal

• Department for the Welfare of SC/ST/OBC/Minorities, GNCTD: 011-23379512
• Address: B-Block, 2nd Floor, Vikas Bhawan, I.P. Estate, New Delhi-110002
• Guidelines: the scholarship schemes guidelines PDF for the current session is published on scstwelfare.delhi.gov.in
• Application portal: edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in
• School and college eligibility list: published on the department's notifications page

There is no fee to apply. The department does not authorise any agent to charge for filing a fee reimbursement application, and every certificate the scheme needs — caste, income, domicile; can be applied for on the same Delhi e-District portal.

How to check your application status

An application filed for the Delhi tuition fee reimbursement scheme is tracked on the same portal it was filed on, not on a separate status-check page.

1. Go to the Delhi e-District portal at edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in, the same site used to submit the scholarship and fee reimbursement application.
2. Log in with the credentials used at the time of application, since the e-District account, not the school or the department, holds the case record.
3. Open "Track Application Status" (or the equivalent option on the citizen dashboard) and enter the application or acknowledgement number that the portal generated when the form was submitted. Keep that number, and ideally a screenshot of the submission confirmation, from the day of filing; the portal does not resend it by SMS or email on request.
4. Read the status stage shown, typically some version of submitted, under verification at the school or department level, sanctioned, or disbursed. A status stuck at "under verification" for several weeks after the department's stated processing timeline usually means a document query is pending at the school or the SDM's office rather than at e-District itself.
5. Check the bank account, not just the portal, once the status shows sanctioned or disbursed. Because the amount is paid by Aadhaar-seeded DBT directly to the student's account, a "disbursed" status with no credit in the account usually points to an inactive account or an Aadhaar seeding issue flagged in the payment file, not a portal error.
6. Call the department if the portal status has not moved for an unreasonable period, or if it shows an error you cannot resolve online. The Department for the Welfare of SC/ST/OBC/Minorities, GNCTD can be reached on 011-23379512, or approached in person at B-Block, 2nd Floor, Vikas Bhawan, I.P. Estate, New Delhi-110002. Quote the application number when you call; the department cannot look up a case by the student's name alone.
7. Watch the department's notifications page on scstwelfare.delhi.gov.in during the disbursal period each year, since the department sometimes posts batch-wise sanction or disbursement lists there for a scholarship cycle in addition to the individual portal status.

There is no separate SMS or app-based tracking channel for this particular scheme; e-District login and the helpline above are the two routes an applicant has.