Monthly Stipend for BPL Students in Classes 9 to 12

What is the Monthly Stipend for BPL Students in classes 9 to 12?

Monthly Stipend for BPL Students in Classes 9 to 12 is a Haryana state scheme that pays a regular cash allowance to children from Below Poverty Line families studying in government schools. The scheme was introduced by the Haryana Education and Languages Department through instructions issued on 2 March 2009 and took effect from the financial year 2009-10. It was created alongside a parallel stipend for Backward Class category A, or BC-A, families, and both were modelled on the earlier scheme for Scheduled Caste students launched in the academic session 2008-09.

The purpose is blunt and practical. Children from the poorest households leave school early because the family needs their labour or cannot absorb the small recurring costs of schooling. A predictable monthly amount, paid into a bank account rather than handed out as cash, is intended to make staying enrolled the easier choice.

Monthly Stipend for BPL Students is administered by the Directorate of School Education under the Haryana School Education Department. The Directorate's August 2021 notification of state scholarship schemes lists it as item (iv), "Monthly Stipend to BPL Students in Classes IX-XII", confirming the scheme is current, and the Haryana State DBT Portal carries it under the Secondary Education department.

Main features

• Applies to Haryana Government schools only.
• Rates differ by gender and by class, with a premium for science students in classes 11 and 12.
• Paid in four quarterly instalments, not monthly cash.
• Conditional on 50 per cent attendance in the previous quarter.
• Routed through DBT/PFMS into an Aadhaar-linked account opened in the name of the parent or guardian, preferably the mother.
• A student may draw only one of the SC, BC-A and BPL stipends.

Who is eligible for the BPL monthly stipend?

A student qualifies if all of the following hold:

• The student's family is on the authenticated Below Poverty Line list. The BPL family survey was completed by the Rural Development Department, and a district-wise list is held at the state headquarters and with each Additional Deputy Commissioner. A village-wise list is available with the Block Development Officer and the Gram Panchayat.
• The student is enrolled in a Haryana Government school.
• The student is studying in class 9, 10, 11 or 12 for the rates on this page. Lower classes are covered at lower rates under the same scheme.
• The student maintains at least 50 per cent attendance in the quarter preceding each release.
• The student has an Aadhaar number and a bank account that can receive DBT.

Students who cannot apply or are not eligible:

• Students of private, unaided or privately managed schools, whatever the family's income.
• Students whose family is not on the authenticated BPL list. Being poor in fact is not sufficient; the name must be on the list held by the Gram Panchayat or the Additional Deputy Commissioner.
• Students already drawing the Scheduled Caste stipend or the BC-A stipend. The department's instruction is explicit that a student is eligible under only one scheme.
• Students whose attendance fell below 50 per cent in the previous quarter, for that quarter's instalment.
• Students who have left school or transferred out of the government system.

How much does the BPL stipend pay?

The rates fixed in the Education Department's instructions are set out below. Girls receive double the boys' rate at every level, and science students in classes 11 and 12 receive the highest rate in the scheme.

For a student in classes 9 to 12, that works out to roughly Rs 3,600 a year for a girl and Rs 1,800 a year for a boy on the standard rate, and up to Rs 4,800 a year for a girl studying science in class 11 or 12, assuming full attendance across all four quarters.

What documents are required for the BPL stipend?

How to apply for the BPL monthly stipend

There is no online student application. The scheme is delivered through the school, and the steps below are the real route by which a child starts receiving the stipend.

1. Confirm your family is on the BPL list. Ask the Gram Panchayat for the village BPL list, or the Block Development Officer in a block office. The department has directed that an authenticated list of BPL families for each village be available with the Gram Panchayat and that a copy be given to the school head.
2. Tell the school office that the child is from a BPL family. The Principal or Head Master matches the name against the BPL list held at the school. This is the step that actually gets the child onto the scheme.
3. Open the bank account. The school arranges a session with the attached bank branch. The account is opened in the name of the parent or guardian, the department directs that it should preferably be the mother's name where the branch is in or near the village. Bring Aadhaar and a photograph.
4. Give the school the Aadhaar number and account details. Payment runs on DBT/PFMS, so an unseeded account will simply fail to receive the credit.
5. Attend at least 50 per cent of classes each quarter. The class teacher verifies attendance before each release; this is a genuine condition, not a formality.
6. Check the passbook after each quarter and raise any missing instalment with the school office straight away.

No fee is charged at any stage, and no agent can add a child to the list.

How does the money reach the student?

The payment route has three stops and understanding it explains almost every delay families run into.

First, every Haryana Government school is attached to a nearby bank branch — typically four or five schools per branch. Second, the state transfers a lump sum to a designated school account. That account is deliberately restricted: money can only be transferred onward to student accounts, and the department has instructed all bank branches to ensure no cash transaction is possible from it and no transfer to any account other than a student's. Separate school accounts are maintained for the BPL scheme and the BC-A scheme so the two are never mixed.

Third, the school in-charge advises the branch, on the basis of enrolment and verified attendance, to transfer the quarter's instalment into each student's account. Since the Section-7 notification, the whole chain runs through DBT/PFMS with Aadhaar linking.

How to check the status of your BPL stipend

1. Ask the school office whether the child's name is on the current quarter's advice to the bank, and on what date it was sent.
2. Update the bank passbook or check the bank's SMS alerts for a quarterly credit.
3. Ask the branch to confirm Aadhaar seeding if the school says the advice went out but nothing was credited.
4. Approach the District Education Officer with the school's confirmation if the school and bank cannot resolve it between them.

Why BPL stipend instalments get stopped

• Attendance below 50 per cent in the previous quarter. The single most common reason, and the one the scheme is designed to enforce.
• Family name missing from the authenticated BPL list, or the list at the school being out of date.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT credit fails.
• Name mismatch between the school record, Aadhaar and the bank account.
• Duplicate enrolment under the SC or BC-A stipend, which triggers removal from one of them.
• Account dormant or closed, common where the account was opened years earlier and never used.
• Student left the government school or transferred to a private school.

If attendance was the problem and the child returns, the scheme has an explicit recovery rule: a student who rejoins after dropping out and attends at least 50 per cent of classes over the following three months receives both the previously withheld instalment and the current quarter's instalment.

Where to raise a grievance about the BPL stipend

• First level: the Principal or Head Master of the government school.
• Second level: the District Education Officer (DEO) or the District Elementary Education Officer (DEEO) of the district.
• BPL list disputes: the Gram Panchayat, the Block Development Officer, or the Additional Deputy Commissioner, who holds the district-wise BPL list.
• Department level: Directorate of School Education, Shiksha Sadan, Sector 5, Panchkula 134109. Telephone 0172-2560246, email edusecondaryhry@gmail.com.
• State level: the Haryana CM Window grievance system for unresolved cases.

Keep the bank passbook, a copy of the BPL list entry and the child's attendance record. Those three between them settle nearly every dispute under this scheme.