State Scholarship of Class 1st to 5th (Scheduled Caste)

What is the State Scholarship of Class 1st to 5th for Scheduled Caste students?

State Scholarship of Class 1st to 5th is a pre-matric scholarship of the Government of Madhya Pradesh, administered by the Scheduled Caste Development Department: in Hindi the Anusuchit Jati Kalyan Vibhag, that pays a small annual amount to Scheduled Caste girl students studying in classes 1 to 5 in the state.

State Scholarship of Class 1st to 5th sits at the bottom of a ladder of scholarships that Madhya Pradesh runs for Scheduled Caste students. The ladder looks like this:

• Classes 1 to 5: state scholarship, girl students only, no income limit.
• Classes 6 to 10, state scholarship, all Scheduled Caste students, no income limit.
• Classes 11 and 12; post-matric scholarship, income limit applies, applied for on the MPTAAS portal.
• College and above; post-matric scholarship, income limit applies, applied for on the MPTAAS portal.

The purpose of the class 1 to 5 slab is narrow and specific: keep Scheduled Caste girls in primary school. Madhya Pradesh's own scheme design targets girls in these classes precisely because the drop-off in girls' attendance historically began early, before the class 6 to 10 slab could catch them.

How does this scholarship work in practice?

State Scholarship of Class 1st to 5th is a school-driven benefit, not a citizen-driven one. Nobody in the family fills an online form. The school identifies which enrolled children are Scheduled Caste girl students in classes 1 to 5, records their Samagra ID, Aadhaar number, caste certificate details and bank account, and submits the list through the departmental system. Payment then goes out by Direct Benefit Transfer to the account linked to the child.

Payment is made once per academic session, not monthly. That is the standard pattern for the pre-matric state scholarship slabs in Madhya Pradesh, and it is why families sometimes think the scholarship has stopped when in fact the session's single credit has simply not been released yet.

The current annual rate is fixed by a departmental circular for each year. The Scheduled Caste Development Department does not publish the rate card on the public face of scdevelopmentmp.nic.in, so this guide does not quote a figure that cannot be verified. Ask the school head teacher or the district Scheduled Caste Development office for the rate in force for the running session — they work from the same circular.

Who is eligible for the class 1 to 5 state scholarship?

A child qualifies when all of these are true:

• The child is a girl student.
• The child belongs to a Scheduled Caste notified in Madhya Pradesh, backed by a caste certificate from the competent revenue authority.
• The child is a resident of Madhya Pradesh.
• The child is enrolled and attending classes 1 to 5 in a recognised school in the state.
• The family has a Samagra ID and the child has a Samagra member ID.

Who is not eligible:

• Boys in classes 1 to 5. The class 1 to 5 slab of the state scholarship is restricted to girl students. Scheduled Caste boys become eligible under the class 6 to 10 slab.
• Students of other categories, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Classes and general category students are covered by their own departments' schemes, not by this one.
• Children not enrolled in a recognised school, including children out of school entirely.
• Residents of other states studying in Madhya Pradesh.
• Families that cannot produce a Scheduled Caste certificate, the certificate is the gateway document and no substitute is accepted.

Note that there is no family income ceiling at this slab. A common mistake is for a family to assume they earn too much to qualify; income limits enter the picture only from class 11 onwards under the post-matric scholarships.

How to apply for the class 1 to 5 state scholarship

1. Get the Scheduled Caste certificate made for the child, or use the family's existing certificate, from the tehsildar or the competent revenue authority. This is the one document that stalls the most cases, and it is worth doing before the school session begins.
2. Make sure the family has a Samagra ID and that the child is added as a member with correct name, date of birth and gender. Corrections are done at the gram panchayat, ward office or through the Samagra portal.
3. Open or update a bank account for the child; usually a joint account with a parent or guardian, and get it Aadhaar-seeded at the branch so DBT can reach it.
4. Submit copies to the school: caste certificate, Samagra IDs, child's Aadhaar and the bank passbook first page. Ask the head teacher to confirm the entry has been made.
5. Keep attendance regular. Pre-matric scholarship lists are drawn from enrolment and attendance records, so a child marked as a long absentee can drop off the list.
6. Follow up once a session with the head teacher on whether the payment for that session has been released.

What documents are required?

Why does the payment fail or go missing?

• Caste certificate not on file with the school, or a certificate in a spelling that does not match the school register.
• Samagra ID missing or the child not added as a member, so the record cannot be validated.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, the single most common cause of a bounced DBT credit.
• Name mismatch between the school register, Aadhaar and the bank record.
• Child transferred to a new school mid-session without the data being moved across, so neither school claims the child.
• Low attendance flagged in the school record.

Each of these is fixed at the school first. Take the corrected document to the head teacher, get the record updated, and ask the school to re-submit. If the school does not act, escalate to the Block Education Officer and then to the district Scheduled Caste Development office.

Where to get help

• Scheduled Caste Development portal: scdevelopmentmp.nic.in. The department's own site, with district office listings and grievance registration.
• Scheduled Caste helpdesk: 1800-2331-626, or email helpdesk.scd@mp.gov.in, as published on the state's MPTAAS system pages.
• School head teacher: the working point of contact, because the school owns the data entry for this scholarship.
• Block Education Officer and district Scheduled Caste Development office: the escalation route when a school does not act.
• CM Helpline 181: the Madhya Pradesh government's general grievance line.

There is no fee for this scholarship at any stage. No agent can add a child's name to the list, enrolment in the school and a valid caste certificate are the only routes in.