State Government ST Scholarship (Class 1 to 8)

What is the State Government ST Scholarship for Classes 1 to 8?

The State Government ST Scholarship (Class 1 to 8) is a small primary and middle-school scholarship of the Tribal Affairs Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh. On the state's own scheme lists it appears in Hindi as Rajya Chhatravritti Kaksha 1 se 8 tak, funded entirely by the state and delivered through the Madhya Pradesh Education Portal.

According to the national myScheme portal, the scheme pays Rs 250 per year in Classes 1 to 5 to all boys and girls of the special backward tribes, and in Classes 6 to 8, Rs 200 per year for boys and Rs 600 per year for girls. The rates are calculated on a ten-month academic session and credited directly to the student's bank account.

Key features

• Covers Classes 1 to 8, the whole of primary and upper-primary schooling.
• Specifically names the state's special backward tribes, Baiga, Sahariya and Bhariya, among the beneficiaries.
• No annual family income limit.
• Higher rate for girls at the Class 6 to 8 stage: Rs 600 against Rs 200.
• Paid by Direct Benefit Transfer into the student's account.
• Filed by the school, not by the parent.

This is a deliberately small benefit and it is worth being honest about that. A child in a Madhya Pradesh government primary school already receives free tuition, free textbooks, a free uniform, a midday meal and, in later classes, a bicycle under separate state schemes. The scholarship is not meant to fund schooling. It covers the incidental costs, slates, stationery, a school bag, bus fare, that otherwise come out of a household's cash, and it establishes a bank account and a Samagra record in the child's name that later, larger scholarships depend on.

Who is eligible for the Class 1 to 8 ST scholarship?

A child qualifies if:

• The child belongs to a Scheduled Tribe notified in Madhya Pradesh. The scheme description specifically names the special backward tribes Baiga, Sahariya and Bhariya.
• The child is a native of Madhya Pradesh.
• The child is enrolled as a regular student in Classes 1 to 8 in a recognised school.
• The school and student are mapped on the MP Education Portal with a valid Samagra ID.
• A bank account exists in the child's name, normally joint with a parent, and is Aadhaar-seeded.

A child is not eligible if:

• The child is not from a Scheduled Tribe. Scheduled Caste children are covered by the parallel State Government SC Scholarship for Classes 1 to 10.
• The child is not a native of Madhya Pradesh.
• The child is in Class 9 or above, those years fall under the separate pre-matric scholarship for Classes 9 and 10.
• The child is not enrolled as a regular student in a recognised school mapped on the Education Portal.
• The caste certificate cannot be validated against the Madhya Pradesh caste certificate database.

Family income is not tested at all. Nor is the parent's occupation, land holding or ration card category.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Class 1 to 8 ST scholarship

1. Get the child a Samagra member ID. Search the family at samagra.gov.in. If the child is not listed as a member, add the entry at the Gram Panchayat, ward office or a Lok Seva Kendra. Nothing else works until this exists.
2. Get the ST caste certificate. Apply through MP e-District or a Lok Seva Kendra. Check that the certificate appears in the state's online caste certificate record, not only on paper.
3. Open a bank account for the child, usually jointly with a parent, and complete Aadhaar seeding at the branch.
4. Give the documents to the school principal, caste certificate, Samagra ID, Aadhaar number and bank account details. The principal is the person who files the claim; there is no form for parents to submit.
5. The principal enters the details on the MP Education Portal (shikshaportal.mp.gov.in), mapping the child to the school, the current class and the ST category for the session.
6. Verify the entry by searching the child's Samagra ID on the Education Portal. Check the class, category and account number before the session's data is locked.
7. Repeat each year as the child is promoted, because the claim is filed session by session.

What else a tribal child in Classes 1 to 8 receives

This scholarship should be read alongside the other entitlements a Scheduled Tribe child in a Madhya Pradesh government school already has, because families frequently confuse them and assume one has replaced another:

• Free tuition in government primary and middle schools.
• Free textbooks distributed at the start of the session.
• Free uniforms, funded through the school management committee.
• Midday meal on every school day.
• Free bicycles for eligible students entering the class where the state's cycle scheme applies, where the school is beyond the prescribed distance from home.
• Tribal department hostels and ashram schools, which provide free accommodation, bedding and a monthly food allowance to Scheduled Tribe students admitted to them.

All of these run on the same Samagra ID and the same MP Education Portal record as the scholarship. That is the strongest practical argument for getting a young child's Samagra entry, Aadhaar and bank account correct early: one clean record unlocks every benefit that follows, right through to the post matric scholarship after Class 10.

How to check the payment

1. Open shikshaportal.mp.gov.in.
2. Use the student benefit or scholarship status option.
3. Enter the child's 9-digit Samagra ID.
4. The screen lists the scheme sanctioned, the class, the amount released and the bank account credited.

Why the scholarship does not arrive

• Caste certificate not validated in the state database.
• Child missing from the Samagra family record, or the Samagra name spelled differently from the school register.
• Aadhaar e-KYC incomplete on the Education Portal.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, or no account at all in the child's name: common with young children, and the most frequent single cause of failure at this level.
• School data entry not completed for the session, or the child entered under the wrong category.
• Class not updated after promotion.

Every one of these is a records problem that the school and the panchayat can fix between them. None of them requires a fresh eligibility decision.

Where to get help

• School principal, the claim is filed by the school, so this is the first stop for almost every problem.
• Block Education Officer or District Education Officer if the school does not act.
• Assistant Commissioner or District Organiser, Tribal Affairs, at the district headquarters, for caste category and sanction disputes.
• Tribal Affairs Department helpdesk: 1800-2333-951, helpdesk.tribal@mp.gov.in
• CM Helpline 181 for complaints about delay.

The scholarship is free to claim. No school, teacher or agent may charge a fee to enter a child's name on the Education Portal.