Jharkhand State Scheduled Caste Pre-Matric Scholarship

What is the Jharkhand State Scheduled Caste Pre-Matric Scholarship?

Jharkhand State Scheduled Caste Pre-Matric Scholarship is a scholarship administered by the Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, Minority and Backward Class Welfare Department, Government of Jharkhand for Scheduled Caste students studying up to class 10 in the state. "Pre-matric" simply means before matriculation, that is, before the class 10 board examination.

The scholarship is delivered through e-Kalyan, the Welfare Department's online scholarship system at ekalyan.cgg.gov.in. The same portal handles pre-matric and post-matric scholarships for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Backward Class and minority students, which is why families often refer to the whole thing simply as "e-Kalyan scholarship".

The purpose is narrow and practical. Dropout in Jharkhand is heaviest at the transition from primary to upper primary and again at class 9, and the direct costs at those stages: uniforms, books, notebooks, examination fees, travel: fall hardest on households near the poverty line. The pre-matric scholarship covers those costs so that a Scheduled Caste child is not withdrawn from school for want of a few thousand rupees.

Key features

• Covers classes 1 to 10 in recognised schools in Jharkhand.
• Annual family income limit of Rs 2,50,000.
• Paid by Direct Benefit Transfer through PFMS into the student's Aadhaar-linked bank account.
• Applied for online, with the school filing and verifying the application.
• Classes 9 and 10 are supported under the centrally-sponsored pre-matric scholarship on a 60:40 central and state funding share; the earlier classes are supported by the state.

Who is eligible for the pre-matric scholarship?

Your child can get the scholarship if:

• The student belongs to a Scheduled Caste and holds a caste certificate issued by the competent authority in Jharkhand.
• The student is studying in classes 1 to 10 in a school in Jharkhand that is recognised by the government or a recognised board.
• The annual family income does not exceed Rs 2,50,000, evidenced by an income certificate from the Circle Officer.
• The student or the parent or guardian is a permanent resident of Jharkhand.
• The student has a bank account that is Aadhaar-seeded, or a joint account with a parent where the child is too young to hold one.
• The student was promoted to the class they are now studying in, evidenced by the previous year's marksheet.

Your child is not eligible and cannot apply if:

• The student does not belong to a Scheduled Caste. Scheduled Tribe and Backward Class students are covered by their own parallel schemes on the same e-Kalyan portal, not by this one.
• Family income exceeds Rs 2,50,000 a year.
• The student is studying outside Jharkhand, or in an institution that is not recognised.
• The student has already passed class 10. The pre-matric scheme ends at matriculation, after which the post-matric scholarship applies.
• The student is repeating the same class after failing, in which case the scholarship for the repeated year is not payable.
• The student is drawing another scholarship for the same purpose and the same year, since duplicate scholarships for the same course are not permitted.
• The application is filed after the portal window closes, or the school does not verify it in time.

Both boys and girls are covered on the same terms, and there is no restriction on the number of children from one family, subject to the income limit.

How much is the scholarship?

The amount depends on the class and on whether the student is a day scholar or a hosteller, with hostellers receiving the higher rate because their living costs are higher.

For classes 9 and 10, which are covered under the centrally-supported Pre-Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Caste students on the 60:40 funding share, the published academic allowance is:

For classes 1 to 8, rates are fixed by the state and are lower, and they are notified year by year on the e-Kalyan portal rather than being fixed permanently. Because those figures change between years and between categories, check the rate published for the current session on ekalyan.cgg.gov.in rather than relying on a figure quoted by an unofficial site.

The money is credited directly to the student's Aadhaar-linked bank account through PFMS. No cash is handed out at the school, and no portion of the scholarship is payable to anyone as a fee.

What documents are required?

Get the caste, income and residence certificates first. All three are issued by the Circle Officer and can be applied for on the JharSewa e-district portal at jharsewa.jharkhand.gov.in or at the block office, and each takes time. Every year a large number of otherwise eligible students miss the scholarship window purely because a certificate was still pending.

How to apply for the Jharkhand SC pre-matric scholarship

1. Obtain the three certificates; Scheduled Caste, income and residence, from the Circle Officer, through JharSewa or the block office. Do this well before the scholarship window opens.
2. Open or verify the bank account. The account should be in the student's name where possible, and must be Aadhaar-seeded at the branch so that PFMS payment can reach it.
3. Approach the class teacher or school principal once the e-Kalyan window opens. For pre-matric classes the school files the application using the institution's own e-Kalyan login; the student does not register independently.
4. Submit the document set to the school; caste, income and residence certificates, Aadhaar card, bank passbook first page, previous class marksheet and photograph.
5. Check the entries the school makes on the portal before submission, especially the name spelling, bank account number and IFSC code. A single wrong digit stops the payment.
6. Ensure the school verifies the application on the portal. An application that is submitted but not verified by the institution before the deadline is treated as incomplete and lapses.
7. Note the application or reference number the portal generates and keep it for the year.
8. Track the status on ekalyan.cgg.gov.in and check the bank passbook once disbursal for the session begins.

Applying is free. The school cannot charge for filing, and no agent or cyber café is authorised to demand money for a scholarship application.

How do I check the application status?

1. Open ekalyan.cgg.gov.in.
2. Use the application or payment status option and enter your application number or the details the portal asks for.
3. Read the stage shown — submitted, verified by institute, verified at district level, sanctioned, or paid.
4. If the status shows paid but the money has not arrived, check with the bank branch whether the account's Aadhaar seeding is live in the NPCI mapper.

Where the portal shows "pending at institute", the delay is at the school, not the department, and the principal is the person to follow up with.

Key dates

The e-Kalyan pre-matric window runs on an annual cycle that opens in the autumn and closes in late winter. For the 2025-26 session the pre-matric window ran from 2 November and applications, along with institute-level verification, were due by 28 February 2026.

Two points matter more than the exact dates. First, institute verification has its own deadline, and it often falls on the same day as the student submission deadline. An application submitted on the last day with no time left for the school to verify it will lapse. Second, the department sometimes extends the window, but extensions are announced on the portal and cannot be relied on in advance. Treat the published date as final and apply well before it.

Always confirm the current session's dates on ekalyan.cgg.gov.in, because they shift by a few weeks from year to year.

Why applications get rejected, and how to fix them

• Income certificate above Rs 2,50,000. The ceiling is hard; nothing can be done except establishing the correct income figure if the certificate is wrong.
• Caste certificate from outside Jharkhand or from an authority that is not competent. Obtain a fresh certificate from the Circle Officer.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded. PFMS cannot credit an unseeded account; complete seeding at the branch.
• Name mismatch between the Aadhaar card, the school record and the bank passbook. Align all three spellings.
• Wrong IFSC or account number entered on the portal. Correct it through the school in the next window; a failed credit is not automatically retried.
• School did not verify the application before the deadline. Follow up with the principal during the window, not after it.
• Student repeating a class or already passed class 10, both of which take the student outside the pre-matric scheme.
• Duplicate scholarship for the same course and year.

Where to get help

• e-Kalyan helpline: 040-23120591, 040-23120592, 040-23120593, for portal and application problems, as published on the e-Kalyan site.
• School principal, the first point of contact for any pre-matric application, since the school holds the institute login.
• District Welfare Officer, for rejected applications, certificate disputes and delayed disbursal within the district.
• Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, Minority and Backward Class Welfare Department, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi, for complaints unresolved at district level.
• JharSewa (jharsewa.jharkhand.gov.in), for obtaining the caste, income and residence certificates the application depends on.

The scholarship is a government entitlement paid directly into the student's account. No teacher, clerk, agent or cyber café operator is entitled to any part of it, and any demand for a cut should be reported in writing to the District Welfare Officer.