National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE)

What is the National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education?

The National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE) is a scheme of the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, Government of India. According to the Ministry of Education, NSIGSE was launched to encourage girls, especially those from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities; to enrol in and complete secondary education rather than dropping out after the elementary stage.

NSIGSE works through a fixed deposit of Rs 3,000 opened in the name of each eligible girl once she enrols in Class IX. The girl does not receive the money as monthly cash. Instead, the sum is locked in a term deposit and released to her, along with the interest it has earned, when she reaches 18 years of age and has passed the Class X examination. This design ties the incentive directly to retention and completion of secondary schooling.

Main features

• One-time fixed deposit of Rs 3,000 per eligible girl.
• Amount plus accrued interest is withdrawable only on turning 18 after passing Class X.
• Targeted at SC/ST girls and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) passouts.
• Identification and sanction handled by State/UT education departments.

Who is eligible for NSIGSE?

A girl can benefit if:

• She belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community and has passed Class VIII, or
• She has passed Class VIII from a Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV), regardless of whether she belongs to SC/ST, and
• She enrols in Class IX in a State/UT Government, Government-aided or Local Body school, and
• She is below 16 years of age as on 31 March of the enrolment year.

A girl cannot apply if:

• She is married — married girls are explicitly excluded.
• She is enrolled in a private unaided school that is not government-aided.
• She does not fall into either the SC/ST or the KGBV-passout category (a general-category girl from a regular school is outside the scheme).

The scheme covers girls studying in recognised government, government-aided and local body secondary schools; it does not extend the incentive to students of fully private institutions.

What documents are required for NSIGSE?

How to apply for NSIGSE

NSIGSE has no online self-registration. Eligible girls are identified by their schools, so the process is school-driven:

1. Pass Class VIII from an eligible school and secure admission to Class IX in a State/UT Government, Government-aided or Local Body school.
2. Ask the school head or class teacher to include your name in the list of eligible SC/ST or KGBV-passout girls prepared for NSIGSE.
3. Submit your Class VIII passing proof, caste certificate (if applicable), Aadhaar and birth certificate to the school for verification.
4. The school forwards the verified list to the State/UT Department of School Education, which sanctions and opens the Rs 3,000 fixed deposit in the girl's name.
5. On turning 18 after passing Class X, approach the designated bank or the education department with your Aadhaar and bank details to withdraw the matured deposit with interest.

Because sanction is routed through the state, families should confirm inclusion with the school rather than waiting for a separate letter.

How much does NSIGSE actually pay?

The incentive is a Rs 3,000 fixed deposit per girl. The principal earns interest for the years it remains locked: from enrolment in Class IX until the girl turns 18 and passes Class X, so the final amount received is Rs 3,000 plus that accrued interest. The exact interest depends on the deposit rate applied by the nodal bank over the holding period, which is why NSIGSE is best understood as a retention incentive rather than a large cash grant.

Help and where to check status

NSIGSE does not publish a dedicated national helpline. Because identification and disbursal are handled by states, the correct point of contact is your State or Union Territory Department of School Education, or the head of the school where the girl is enrolled. Scheme details are hosted on the Department of School Education and Literacy website at dsel.education.gov.in.

No fee is charged to include an eligible girl in the scheme. Families should be wary of any agent claiming to "add a name" for payment, as the process runs entirely through the school and the state education department.