Education Assistance / Ph.D. Scheme (GBOCWWB)

What is the Education Assistance / Ph.D. Scheme?

Education Assistance / Ph.D. Scheme is a welfare scheme of the Gujarat Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board (GBOCWWB), the statutory board constituted under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996 and administered by the Labour, Skill Development and Employment Department, Government of Gujarat.

According to the Board's own scheme document, the purpose is to provide financial assistance once a year to any two children of a construction worker "for the career development of bright and needy construction worker students seeking admission in the higher education courses of the state", so that the child of a construction worker "may progress in education and become a doctor, engineer."

That last phrase is not decoration. The benefit table is deliberately back-loaded: a child in Class 1 gets Rs 1,800, while a child admitted to an MBBS or BDS course gets up to Rs 2,00,000 or the full fee. The Board is paying small amounts to keep children in school and large amounts at the point where a construction worker's household would otherwise be forced to refuse a professional college seat.

Main features

• Covers the entire education chain, Class 1 through Ph.D. and professional degrees.
• Paid once a year, to a maximum of two children per registered worker.
• Several slabs are capped at 100 percent of the actual fee, so the fee receipt determines the payout.
• Separate hostel assistance of Rs 12,000 and book assistance of Rs 10,000.
• Paid by DBT into the registered worker's bank account.

How much does the scheme pay for each course?

The Board publishes a 13-row benefit table. These are the amounts per child:

Two things about this table are worth reading carefully. First, the three fee-linked slabs carry both a floor and a ceiling. A student in a government-quota MBBS seat with a fee of Rs 40,000 receives Rs 40,000, not Rs 2,00,000, because the cap is 100 percent of the fee. A student paying Rs 6,00,000 in a self-financed medical college receives the Rs 2,00,000 ceiling. Second, hostel and book assistance are listed as separate rows and are not folded into the course amount.

Who is eligible for the Education Assistance / Ph.D. Scheme?

Your child can receive the assistance if:

• You are a construction worker registered with GBOCWWB, holding a valid e-Nirman construction worker card.
• The child is studying in any class or course covered by the benefit table, from Class 1 to Ph.D., diploma and professional degrees.
• The child is aged 30 years or below. The age limit does not apply at all if the son or daughter is disabled.
• This is the child's first attempt at the class or course concerned.
• You are claiming for no more than two children in the year.
• You apply within 6 months of the academic session starting.

Your child is not eligible if:

• You are not registered with the Board. Unlike the Board's Accidental Death Assistance Scheme, this scheme is limited to registered workers only.
• The child failed and is repeating the same standard or class. The Board states that assistance is limited to the first trial in the academic year and that a person who fails in the same standard is not eligible for a second award for that standard.
• The child was admitted through the Right to Education route.
• The child is studying in an open university.
• The child is studying as an external candidate.
• The child is already receiving similar assistance from another department.
• The child is over 30 years old and not disabled.
• The application form is incomplete or inaccurate. The Board says plainly that an application not filled completely and accurately will not be treated as valid.

What documents are required?

The fee receipt is the document worth double-checking. In the medical, dental, engineering and professional slabs the payout is the lower of the ceiling and the actual fee, so a receipt that shows only a part payment will cap the assistance at that part payment.

How to apply for the Education Assistance / Ph.D. Scheme

1. Check that your Board registration is live. Your e-Nirman construction worker card must be valid on the date of the application. Renew it at enirmanbocw.gujarat.gov.in or the district office if it has lapsed.
2. Collect the child's documents as soon as the session starts, the original bonafide certificate, the previous year's result, the fee receipt, the child's Aadhaar copy and photographs. The 6-month clock runs from the date the academic session begins, not from the date you get the documents.
3. Open sanman.gujarat.gov.in and log in, or register if this is your first application to the Labour Department's welfare portal.
4. Select the Education Assistance / Ph.D. Scheme from the GBOCWWB scheme list and choose the correct course row. Selecting the wrong row is the commonest cause of an underpayment.
5. Fill one form per child. The Board's terms require separate forms where two children of the same worker are claiming, whether the route is online or offline.
6. Enter your bank account number and IFSC exactly as printed on the first page of the passbook, and upload the scanned documents.
7. Submit and save the acknowledgement number, then track the application under the status option on the portal using the same number.

How to apply offline at the district office

1. Visit the district office of the Construction Board, which is the route the Board's own scheme note names, the benefit is obtained "by going to the District Office of the Construction Board".
2. Fill in the prescribed physical form for the Education Assistance / Ph.D. Scheme and attach the full document set, including the affidavit or consent letter where the claim is Rs 5,000 or more.
3. The District Project Manager enters the physical form into the Sanman system. Ask for the acknowledgement number at this point.
4. Follow up on that acknowledgement number by phone on the Board's toll-free number 1800-233-2324.

How is the application processed and paid?

GBOCWWB moves every application through a fixed chain, which the Board sets out in its scheme document:

1. The District Project Manager submits the application online.
2. The District Nirikshak (district inspector) approves it.
3. The file goes to the State Project Manager.
4. At head office the Government Labour Officer approves it, and then the Member Secretary.
5. The Accounts Officer issues the payment order and the assistance is released by DBT into the worker's account.

Knowing the chain is useful when you call the helpline. Ask which of these five stages the file is sitting at rather than only whether it has been approved.

Common reasons applications are rejected

• Application filed more than 6 months after the session began. This is the most common failure and it cannot be cured.
• Board registration lapsed on the date of application.
• Both children entered on a single form. Two children require two forms.
• Child repeating a failed class, which the Board's terms exclude.
• Fee receipt missing in a fee-capped slab, so the amount cannot be fixed.
• Name or surname mismatch between the worker's card, the child's Aadhaar and the school record, without the gazette entry or affidavit that reconciles them.
• Bank details incorrect, which stops the DBT even after approval.
• Duplicate claim where the same child is drawing similar assistance from another department.

Where to get help

• GBOCWWB toll-free helpline: 1800-233-2324
• Board office: 079-25502271
• Application portal: sanman.gujarat.gov.in
• Worker registration portal: enirmanbocw.gujarat.gov.in
• Board website and scheme documents: bocwwb.gujarat.gov.in

Applying is free, on the portal and at the district office alike. No agent can move an application faster, and the Board's toll-free number is the correct place to chase a pending file.