Post Matric and Top Class Scholarship for Scheduled Tribe Students

What is the Post Matric and Top Class Scholarship?

The Post Matric and Top Class Scholarship is the main higher-education scholarship of the Tribal Affairs Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh, for Scheduled Tribe students. It is delivered through MPTAAS, the Madhya Pradesh Tribal Affairs Automation System: at tribal.mp.gov.in.

According to the Tribal Affairs Department, the scholarship exists "to encourage education among Scheduled Tribe students in the state so they can join the mainstream of society". It covers everything above Class 10: Class 11 and 12, undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, professional courses, and PhD. The Post Matric part is the general stream. The Top Class part is the higher-cost stream for Scheduled Tribe students admitted to premier national institutions where standard post matric rates would not go far.

Key features

• Monthly maintenance allowance of Rs 230 to Rs 1,500, fixed by course group and hostel status.
• Reimbursement of tuition and mandatory non-refundable fees in addition to the maintenance allowance.
• No income ceiling for government and government-aided institutions; a Rs 6 lakh annual family income ceiling for private institutions.
• Paid by Direct Benefit Transfer into the student's own Aadhaar-seeded account.
• Applied for online only, through MPTAAS, and renewed every academic year.

MPTAAS was upgraded to version 2.0, adding Aadhaar-based e-KYC and Samagra ID validation so that caste, family and bank details are cross-checked against other state databases rather than accepted from uploaded paper. That change removed a great deal of fraud but also means a student whose Samagra or caste record is inconsistent will be stopped at the form stage rather than at sanction.

How much does the scholarship pay?

The Tribal Affairs Department publishes the maintenance allowance as a monthly rate against four course groups:

Tuition fees and mandatory non-refundable charges are reimbursed separately, on the basis of the fee actually charged by a recognised institution, so a medical or engineering student's total benefit is far larger than the maintenance allowance alone suggests.

The Top Class component works differently. It is aimed at Scheduled Tribe students admitted to premier institutes such as IITs, IIMs, NITs and AIIMS on the approved institution list, and it covers full tuition and mandatory charges along with living, book and computer allowances rather than a flat monthly slab. Confirm the current Top Class rate and the approved institution list on the MPTAAS portal before relying on any figure, as the list and the rates are revised periodically.

Who is eligible for the Post Matric and Top Class Scholarship?

You can claim the scholarship if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Tribe notified in Madhya Pradesh and hold a valid ST caste certificate from the competent revenue authority.
• You are a permanent resident of Madhya Pradesh.
• You are enrolled as a regular student in Class 11 or above — Class 11, Class 12, a degree, a postgraduate course, a professional course, M.Phil or PhD.
• Your annual family income is Rs 6 lakh or less if you are studying in a private institution. There is no income limit in a government or government-aided institution.
• Your Aadhaar e-KYC is complete on MPTAAS, your Samagra ID is linked, and your bank account is in your own name and Aadhaar-seeded.
• You meet the minimum attendance your institution prescribes.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not from a Scheduled Tribe: Scheduled Caste and OBC students apply under their own departments' schemes instead.
• You are not a permanent resident of Madhya Pradesh.
• You are studying below Class 11. Classes 1 to 8 and Classes 9 to 10 are covered by separate state pre-matric scholarships.
• You are in a private institution and your family income exceeds Rs 6 lakh a year.
• Your bank account is a joint account or an account in a parent's name. The Direct Benefit Transfer must reach an account in the student's own name.
• Your caste certificate cannot be validated against the Madhya Pradesh caste certificate database.

Two adults in one household can both claim if both are students; the scholarship is per student, not per family.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Post Matric and Top Class Scholarship

1. Get your ST caste certificate validated. Apply through MP e-District or a Lok Seva Kendra if you do not have one, and check that it appears in the state's online caste certificate record. MPTAAS reads from that record.
2. Register on MPTAAS. Open tribal.mp.gov.in, select the MPTAAS portal, and create a profile with your Samagra ID and Aadhaar. Complete the Aadhaar e-KYC step; the profile ID generated here is used for every future application and renewal.
3. Secure admission and collect the fee receipt. The scholarship form asks for the institution, course, academic year and fee actually paid, so nothing can be filed before admission is confirmed.
4. Fill the scholarship application for the current academic year from your MPTAAS login. Select Post Matric or Top Class as applicable, enter course and institution details, and upload the caste certificate, domicile, previous marksheet, transfer certificate, income certificate where required, and the fee receipt.
5. Submit and send it to the institution. The application goes to your college or school's MPTAAS login for verification. Follow up with the institution's scholarship cell, an unverified claim simply sits there and is the single largest cause of non-payment.
6. Check the sanction and the credit. Once verified and sanctioned, track the payment from the same MPTAAS login. The amount is credited by Direct Benefit Transfer.
7. Renew every year. File a fresh application each academic session with the previous year's result and the new fee receipt.

How to check your scholarship status

1. Log in to MPTAAS on tribal.mp.gov.in with your profile ID.
2. Open the application or payment status option for the relevant academic year.
3. The screen shows the stage: pending at the institution, pending at the district office, sanctioned, or paid, and the account credited.

If the status is stuck at institution verification, the fix is at your college, not at the department. If it is sanctioned but not credited, the problem is almost always the bank account: not in your own name, not Aadhaar-seeded, or dormant.

Common reasons the scholarship fails

• Aadhaar e-KYC incomplete on MPTAAS 2.0.
• Bank account in a parent's name or not Aadhaar-seeded.
• Caste certificate not validated against the state database.
• Institution has not verified the claim on its own MPTAAS login.
• Income certificate missing for a private-institution claim, or showing more than Rs 6 lakh.
• Attendance shortfall reported by the institution.
• Application filed after the portal window closed for that session.

Where to get help

• Tribal Affairs Department helpdesk: 1800-2333-951
• Email: helpdesk.tribal@mp.gov.in
• Assistant Commissioner or District Organiser, Tribal Affairs, at your district headquarters, for sanction and payment disputes.
• Your institution's scholarship cell, for anything stuck at verification.
• CM Helpline 181 for delay complaints.

Applying on MPTAAS is free. No agent can charge a fee to get a scholarship sanctioned, and no official from the Tribal Affairs Department will ask for your OTP or bank password.