Pre-Matric Scholarship for ST and Gujjar/Bakarwal Students (J&K)

What is the Pre-Matric Scholarship for ST students in Jammu and Kashmir?

Pre-Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Tribe students is the school-stage scholarship administered in Jammu and Kashmir by the Department of Tribal Affairs. According to the department's own scheme table, the Pre-Matric component is a "Scholarship for ST students of class 9th - 10th", funded on a 90:10 basis between the Government of India and the Union Territory, and disbursed through the National Scholarship Portal (NSP).

The scheme matters most in Jammu and Kashmir for the Gujjar and Bakerwal communities, the two largest Scheduled Tribes of the Union Territory, many of whom are pastoralist and migrate seasonally between summer and winter pastures. The Department of Tribal Affairs recognises 12 scheduled tribes in J&K, including Gujjar, Bakerwal, Gaddi and Sippi.

Where this scheme sits among J&K's tribal scholarships

• Classes 1 to 8. A separate scholarship, 100 per cent UT-funded, and implemented through the Chief Education Officers, not through NSP.
• Classes 9 and 10. This Pre-Matric Scholarship, 90:10 funded, through NSP.
• After class 10, the Post-Matric Scholarship for ST students, also 90:10 and through NSP.

Knowing which of the three applies to you is the first practical step, because they use different application routes entirely. A parent of a class 6 child who waits for the NSP window will wait in vain; that child's scholarship comes through the school and the Chief Education Officer.

Who is eligible for the J&K ST pre-matric scholarship?

A student can claim the scholarship if:

• The student belongs to a notified Scheduled Tribe of Jammu and Kashmir and holds a valid ST certificate. Gujjar, Bakerwal, Gaddi and Sippi students are all covered.
• The student is studying in class 9 or class 10 in a recognised school.
• The annual income of the parent or guardian is within the ceiling notified by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for that academic year. The J&K Department of Tribal Affairs does not publish a separate UT ceiling, so the figure shown on the scheme page in NSP for the current year is the one that governs.
• The student has an Aadhaar-seeded bank account in their own name for DBT.

A student cannot apply if:

• The student is not a Scheduled Tribe. Students from Other Backward Classes, Economically Backward Classes, Pahari-speaking people and De-notified Tribes are served by separate pre-matric and post-matric scholarships run by the Social Welfare Department, not by the Department of Tribal Affairs.
• The student is in classes 1 to 8, that stage has its own UT-funded scholarship through the Chief Education Officer.
• The student has already passed class 10, the Post-Matric Scholarship is the correct scheme from that point.
• Family income is above the notified ceiling.
• The student is already receiving another scholarship for the same course and the same academic year. NSP itself now restricts a student to one merit-based scholarship plus welfare-based scholarships, and duplicate claims are detected at verification.

What documents are needed for the pre-matric ST scholarship?

Hosteller status is worth getting right on the form. Across the Ministry of Tribal Affairs pre-matric norms, hostellers are paid at a higher rate than day scholars, so a student living in a departmental hostel should have the school certify that fact rather than leaving the default day-scholar entry.

How to apply for the J&K pre-matric ST scholarship

1. Open the National Scholarship Portal at scholarships.gov.in and complete One Time Registration (OTR) using your Aadhaar number. OTR is now the gateway to every scheme on NSP and only has to be done once.
2. Sign in with your OTR credentials and select the Pre-Matric Scholarship for ST students, choosing Jammu and Kashmir as your state and the current academic year.
3. Fill in the application; personal details, community, class 9 or 10, school details, parent's annual income, and your Aadhaar-seeded bank account number and IFSC.
4. Upload the ST certificate, income certificate, bonafide certificate, previous marksheet and photograph in the file sizes NSP specifies.
5. Submit and lock the application, then print or save the application ID. An unsubmitted draft is never forwarded.
6. Take the printout to your school, which must verify the application at institute level on NSP. Verification by the school is the step where most applications stall.
7. Track the status under Check Your Status on NSP using your application ID, and follow up with the school if it still shows "pending at institute".
8. For a renewal in class 10, log in again in the next academic year and choose the renewal option instead of a fresh application, before the announced renewal deadline.

There is no offline application route for this scheme. The Department of Tribal Affairs records the disbursement channel simply as "Through NSP", and a paper application handed in at a district office will not create a record on the portal.

How much does the scholarship pay and when?

Payment is made by Direct Benefit Transfer into the student's own Aadhaar-seeded bank account through PFMS, after the school verifies the application and the state and ministry levels approve it.

The rate is fixed by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for the scheme as a whole, with separate rates for day scholars and hostellers and an additional annual grant for books and stationery. The J&K Department of Tribal Affairs does not publish its own rate card, because the UT contributes only its 10 per cent share of the centrally fixed rate. Read the current year's rates on the scheme page inside NSP before you apply, and do not rely on a figure quoted for an earlier year.

Key dates for 2026-27

• 1 June 2026, the National Scholarship Portal opened for academic year 2026-27.
• 31 October 2026 — announced closing date for renewal applications on NSP.
• Fresh-application closing dates and the institute-verification and district-verification windows are published scheme by scheme on NSP and are usually a few weeks after the student deadline.

From academic year 2026-27, NSP allows a student to apply for one merit-based scholarship scheme and one or more welfare-based schemes. The ST pre-matric scholarship is a welfare-based scheme.

Why do pre-matric scholarship applications fail?

• Application not verified by the school. Submitting on NSP is only half the process; the institute nodal officer must verify it before the deadline.
• Bank account not in the student's own name, or not Aadhaar-seeded, so the PFMS credit fails.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the bank account and the school record.
• ST certificate in an old format or issued by an authority not competent to issue it.
• Income certificate stale or above the ceiling for the year.
• Duplicate claim. The same student holding another scholarship for the same year.
• Renewal filed as a fresh application, which breaks continuity and is usually rejected.

Where to get help

• Department of Tribal Affairs, Jammu and Kashmir; tribalaffairs.jk.gov.in, which carries the scheme list, hostel and EMRS details, orders and circulars, and a Contact Us page for the Directorate of Tribal Affairs.
• National Scholarship Portal helpdesk: reachable from the NSP Helpdesk link on scholarships.gov.in, for application, OTR and payment-tracking problems.
• PFMS helpdesk, for a scholarship that has been sanctioned but not credited.
• Your school's institute nodal officer, the correct first contact for a pending verification.
• CM Grievance Cell: jkgrievance.in, for a written grievance about a J&K department.

Applying on NSP is free. No agent or cyber cafe can get a scholarship sanctioned for a fee, and the school's verification cannot be bought.