Educational Assistance for Degree Course

What is the degree course education assistance?

Educational Assistance for Degree Course is a higher-education scholarship run by the Maharashtra Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, the statutory board created under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996 and functioning as an allied office of the Labour Department, Government of Maharashtra. The scheme pays Rs 20,000 per academic year to a registered construction worker's child studying a degree course.

According to the Board's welfare schemes list on mahabocw.in, the degree benefit sits in the Education group, which is applicable for the first two children only. The same group rises from Rs 2,500 a year in classes 1 to 7, to Rs 5,000 a year in classes 8 to 10, to Rs 10,000 a year in classes 11 and 12, before reaching Rs 20,000 a year at degree level. Maharashtra construction workers usually find this cluster of benefits under the Marathi umbrella name Bandhkam Kamgar Yojana.

The Board is funded by a cess collected on construction cost from builders and contractors across Maharashtra. That cess pool, not a separate education budget, is what pays these scholarships, which is why registration as a construction worker is the single condition that decides access.

Key facts

• Benefit amount: Rs 20,000 per academic year.
• Payable for each year of the degree, as a fresh claim.
• Limited to the first two children of the registered worker.
• Documents named by the Board: previous level marksheet plus current admission acknowledgement.
• Claimed online at iwbms.mahabocw.in under Claim Management.

Who is eligible for the Rs 20,000 degree assistance?

Your child can receive the benefit if:

• The parent is a registered building and other construction worker with the Maharashtra BOCW Welfare Board, and the registration is live at the time of the claim.
• The parent met the Board's registration test; aged 18 to 60 at registration, having worked at least 90 days in construction in the preceding 12 months, in one of the 53 categories of construction and infrastructure work the Board recognises.
• The student is currently admitted to a degree course, evidenced by an admission acknowledgement or bonafide certificate.
• The marksheet of the previous academic level can be produced, normally Class 12 for a first-year claim, or the preceding year's marksheet for later years.
• The student is the first or second child of the registered worker.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• The parent is not registered with the Board. A contractor's employment letter, an out-of-state labour card, or simply working at a site does not substitute for the worker's own BOCW registration number.
• The parent's registration has lapsed. Maharashtra BOCW registration carries a Rs 1 annual subscription and must be renewed through the portal's renewal module before any claim will pass scrutiny.
• The student is the third or later child of the registered worker.
• The course is a medical or engineering degree. Those are claimed under the separate Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 60,000 heads, not under this one.
• No admission proof can be produced for the current academic year.

What documents are required?

Collect the admission acknowledgement at admission time, when the college office is issuing paperwork anyway. Families that come back for it in the middle of the term routinely lose weeks.

How to apply for the degree course assistance online

1. Open iwbms.mahabocw.in and go to Claim Management, then Claim Main Form.
2. Enter the registered worker's registration number and Aadhaar number, and verify with the OTP sent to the registered mobile number.
3. Select the education assistance for degree course entry from the schemes listed against that registration.
4. Enter the student's name, college, course, year of study and academic year, along with the bank account number and IFSC code.
5. Upload the previous level marksheet, current admission acknowledgement, Aadhaar copies and bank passbook as clear scans within the stated size limits.
6. Submit the claim and save the acknowledgement number shown on screen.
7. Track the claim under the status option on the same portal using that acknowledgement number.

How to apply offline

1. Visit the district Labour Office or the BOCW facilitation centre for your district with the worker's registration card and the original marksheet.
2. Ask for the education assistance claim form, and fill in the student and bank account details.
3. Attach self-attested copies of the marksheet, admission acknowledgement, Aadhaar cards and bank passbook, and hand the set in at the counter.
4. Collect the stamped acknowledgement carrying the claim reference number.

How do you check the claim status?

Maharashtra BOCW claim status is checked on iwbms.mahabocw.in using the acknowledgement number issued at submission. The portal shows whether the file is pending scrutiny, returned for a document, approved or paid. If the status has not changed for several weeks, call the Board's toll-free helpline 1800-8892-816 between 10:00 and 18:00, or email support@mahabocw.in quoting the acknowledgement number and the worker's registration number.

Why degree claims get rejected, and how to fix them

• Registration lapsed. The most common reason by a wide margin. Renew first, then refile the claim.
• Admission proof missing — a marksheet shows a completed year; the Board also needs evidence of the current year's admission.
• Wrong head chosen, an engineering or medical course filed under the Rs 20,000 general degree head, or a diploma filed as a degree.
• Third child claimed. The two-child cap is applied without exception.
• Bank details mismatch, a wrong IFSC or a name that does not match the account holder causes the credit to fail after approval.
• Poor scans, folded, shadowed or partly cropped photographs of documents are returned for a rescan.

A returned claim is not final. Correct the document and resubmit on the same portal rather than filing a new claim from scratch.

How the Board's education ladder works

Maharashtra's BOCW Board supports the same student from primary school through professional education, with each level filed as its own claim in its own year. Classes 1 to 7 draw Rs 2,500 a year and classes 8 to 10 Rs 5,000 a year, both against a school certificate showing 75 per cent attendance. Classes 11 and 12 draw Rs 10,000 a year against the class marksheet. Degree and diploma courses draw Rs 20,000 a year, a post-graduate diploma Rs 25,000 a year, an engineering degree a one-time Rs 60,000 and a medical degree a one-time Rs 1,00,000. The Board additionally reimburses the MS-CIT computer course fee against the passing certificate and fee receipt.

Families should treat each academic year as a calendar item: renew the worker's registration, collect the marksheet and the new admission proof, and file the claim once, rather than waiting until the final year of the degree and trying to claim in arrears.

Where to get help

• Toll-free helpline: 1800-8892-816, 10:00 to 18:00
• Email: support@mahabocw.in
• Query form: under the More section on mahabocw.in
• District Labour Office: for scrutiny disputes and payment delays

Registration with the Maharashtra BOCW Welfare Board costs Rs 1, with a Rs 1 annual subscription. No agent is authorised to charge a commission on the Rs 20,000 scholarship for filing a claim on a family's behalf.