Short Term Professional Training Courses

What is the Short Term Professional Training Courses scheme?

Short Term Professional Training Courses is a scheme of the Department of Tribal Welfare, Government of Goa. Its purpose is to train the youth of the Scheduled Tribe community so that they can start their own business, and to help them acquire skills by joining various training courses.

The Department of Tribal Welfare describes its own role as performing statutory and administrative functions relating to the protection and empowerment of Scheduled Tribes in the state, and it implements the Tribal Sub Plan. Its published scheme list includes Short Term Professional Training Courses alongside Home Nursing Courses and the Eklavya Prashikshan Yojana Scheme, and alongside its educational schemes: Gagan Bharari Shiksha Yojana, Vidya Laxmi, the Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarships, and its welfare schemes such as Mundkarache Ghar, Matrutva Yojana and Atal Asra Yojana.

Goa's Scheduled Tribes. The Gawda, Kunbi and Velip communities, were notified comparatively recently, in 2003, and are concentrated in the interior talukas: Sanguem, Quepem, Canacona, Ponda, Sattari and parts of Bicholim. Those are agricultural areas at some distance from the tourism and services economy on the coast, and the mismatch between where the jobs are and where the communities live is the problem the training schemes address. The scheme's specific framing; training so that the youth can start their own business, reflects a judgement that self-employment in the home taluka is a more realistic outcome than a daily commute to Panaji or Margao.

Who is eligible for the scheme?

You can apply if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Tribe notified in Goa — the Gawda, Kunbi or Velip community, and hold a Scheduled Tribe certificate issued by the competent authority in Goa.
• You are a young person seeking skill training, which is the target group the scheme names.
• You have secured or are seeking admission to a training course with a recognised institute.
• You meet the entry requirement of that course, evidenced by your educational qualification certificates.
• You hold an Aadhaar card and a bank account in your own name.

You are not eligible if:

• You do not hold a Goa Scheduled Tribe certificate. Membership of a Scheduled Tribe notified elsewhere does not qualify you under a Goa departmental scheme.
• You are not from a Scheduled Tribe community at all. Non-tribal applicants in Goa should approach the Directorate of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, which runs the state's general skilling programmes.
• You have not identified a training course or institute. The assistance is tied to joining a course, not to a general intention to train.
• The course is a long-duration degree or diploma. This scheme is for short-term professional training; longer educational courses are covered by the Department's scholarship schemes.
• You are already drawing assistance for the same course under another scholarship or training scheme.

How much assistance is given?

The Department of Tribal Welfare fixes the assistance under this scheme, and the figure is linked to the course rather than paid as a uniform stipend.

This guide does not state a rupee figure, because no current amount for the Goa Short Term Professional Training Courses scheme could be confirmed on a Government of Goa source at the time of writing. The Department's own website lists the scheme without publishing benefit amounts, and its citizen charter for 2025 is published as a scanned document.

A prospective applicant should ask the Directorate of Tribal Welfare on 0832-2438024 or 0832-2438052, or by email at dir-tw.goa@nic.in, for:

• the assistance currently sanctioned under the scheme,
• whether it covers course fees, a stipend, or both,
• whether any income ceiling applies,
• which training institutes the Department recognises for the purpose, and
• whether the same course would be better applied for under Eklavya Prashikshan Yojana or the Home Nursing Courses scheme, both of which the Department runs separately.

That last question is worth asking explicitly. The Department maintains three distinct training heads, and applying under the wrong one is a common source of delay.

What documents are required?

The Directorate's other scheme forms, for example the Gagan Bharari and Merit Base application, consistently require self-attested copies, an Aadhaar consent form authorising the Directorate to use the Aadhaar number for authentication, and bank details with MICR and IFSC. Expect the same standard here.

How to apply for Short Term Professional Training Courses

1. Obtain your Scheduled Tribe certificate from the competent authority in Goa if you do not already hold one.
2. Contact the Directorate of Tribal Welfare at Shram Shakti Bhavan, 5th Floor, Patto, Panaji, on 0832-2438024 or 0832-2438052, and ask for the current application form and the list of recognised training courses under the scheme.
3. Choose the course and secure admission, obtaining written confirmation from the institute stating the course name, its duration and its fees.
4. Complete the application form, giving your personal details, community, ST certificate number and date, Aadhaar number, educational qualifications and the course applied for.
5. Attach self-attested copies of the Scheduled Tribe certificate, Aadhaar card, educational certificates, admission confirmation and bank passbook, together with an income certificate where the Department requires one.
6. Submit the application to the Directorate of Tribal Welfare in Panaji, and take an acknowledgement carrying the inward number and date.
7. Follow up before the course begins. Sanction that arrives after the course fee is due leaves the trainee paying up front, so it is worth pressing for a decision in advance.

Downloadable forms for the Department's schemes are published on tribalwelfare.goa.gov.in and on the Government of Goa portal under the Department of Tribal Welfare page, so it is worth checking both before travelling to Panaji.

How do I check the status of my application?

There is no online tracker for this scheme. Status is confirmed by contacting the Directorate of Tribal Welfare on 0832-2438024 or 0832-2438052, or by writing to dir-tw.goa@nic.in, quoting the inward number and the course applied for.

The Government of Goa's "Know Your Schemes" service on goaonline.gov.in lets a citizen check which departmental schemes they may be eligible for, and the Tribal Welfare department links to it from its own page, but the application and its status remain offline.

Why do applications fail?

• Scheduled Tribe certificate missing, expired, or from another state.
• No confirmed admission to a course, so there is no course cost to assess.
• Course too long to count as short-term professional training.
• Applied under the wrong head, a course that properly belongs under Eklavya Prashikshan Yojana or Home Nursing Courses.
• Copies not self-attested, which is a standing requirement across the Department's forms.
• Bank account not in the applicant's own name, or not Aadhaar-seeded, which stops the credit after sanction.
• Application submitted after the course has finished. The assistance is for undertaking training, not for reimbursing training already completed, unless the Department expressly allows it.

Where do I complain?

The Directorate of Tribal Welfare, Shram Shakti Bhavan, 5th Floor, Patto, Panaji, Goa, is the departmental authority to 0832-2438024, 0832-2438052, email dir-tw.goa@nic.in.

A grievance may also be registered against the department through the Government of Goa's citizen services portal at goaonline.gov.in and tracked by reference number.

Practical advice

• Ask which head your course falls under before you apply. The Department runs Short Term Professional Training Courses, Home Nursing Courses and Eklavya Prashikshan Yojana as separate schemes, and applying under the wrong one costs a cycle.
• Choose a course you can actually work with afterwards. The scheme's stated aim is that the trainee starts their own business, and a course in a trade with local demand in your taluka is worth more than a fashionable certificate.
• Get the institute's confirmation in writing on letterhead, with fees itemised.
• Seed your bank account with Aadhaar before applying, since this is the most common cause of a sanctioned amount failing to arrive.
• Apply before the course starts, not after. The Department is assessing support for training you are about to undertake.
• Scheduled Tribe applicants in Goa should also look at the Department's Gagan Bharari Shiksha Yojana and Vidya Laxmi schemes for education, and at the Goa State Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation, which finances enterprises of the kind this training is meant to lead to.