OB&OCWWB Financial Assistance for Education of Children of Beneficiaries (Odisha)

What is OB&OCWWB education assistance for children of beneficiaries?

OB&OCWWB Financial Assistance for the Education of Children of Beneficiaries is the scholarship scheme of the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board, popularly referred to as the education assistance component of Nirman Shramik Kalyan Yojana. The Board was constituted on 3 January 2004 under Section 18 of the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and works under the Labour & Employees State Insurance (ESI) Department, Government of Odisha, with the Labour Commissioner as Member Secretary.

Funding comes from the 1 per cent construction cess collected across Odisha and credited to the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Fund. Rule 275 of the Orissa Building and Other Construction Workers' (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2002 governs the benefit. That rule has been rewritten repeatedly, in 2010, 2012, 2014, and most recently by Gazette Notification No. 933 of 30 May 2019, which replaced a modest slab structure with the wide range now in force. The 2019 rates are the ones the Board applies today.

The design is deliberately front-loaded towards girls and towards Government institutions. Classes 6 and 7 are covered only for girl children, every category from Class 8 upwards carries a 20 per cent addition for a girl child, and the highest rate of Rs 40,000 a year is restricted to Government colleges.

How much does the scheme pay for each class and course?

Rule 275, as substituted in 2019, fixes these annual rates.

• Class 6 and Class 7, girl child only, Rs 2,000 per annum
• Class 8, all children; Rs 2,000 per annum
• Class 9, all children; Rs 3,000 per annum
• Class 10, all children, Rs 4,000 per annum, plus a one-time cash award of Rs 10,000 for securing 90 per cent or above in Class 10
• Class 11 and Class 12 to Rs 5,000 per annum
• BA, BSc, BCom or post-graduate study: Rs 7,000 per annum
• BEd, CT, nursing training or a similar course in a Government institute — Rs 10,000 per annum
• BTech, MSc, MCA, MBA, BArch, MArch, MTech, BPharm, MPharm, hotel management and catering services, and medical courses including allopathic, ayurvedic and homoeopathic, in Government colleges only; Rs 40,000 per annum
• ITI, Diploma or Polytechnic course in a Government institute, under Nirman Kusum; as per the fee structure submitted by the Skill Development and Technical Education Department

On top of these, a girl child of a registered beneficiary gets 20 per cent additional benefit over the normal rate in every category from Class 8 to the Rs 40,000 professional band. In practice that turns Rs 3,000 into Rs 3,600 for Class 9, Rs 5,000 into Rs 6,000 for Classes 11 and 12, Rs 7,000 into Rs 8,400 for a general degree, and Rs 40,000 into Rs 48,000 for a professional course.

The Nirman Kusum route matters for families aiming at technical trades, because it is pegged to actual approved fees rather than a fixed slab, which usually covers the course cost in a Government ITI or polytechnic outright.

Who is eligible for the education assistance?

A family can claim where all of the following are true.

1. The parent is a registered beneficiary of OB&OCWWB with continuous registration of at least one year, holding a Form XXVIII identity card.
2. The parent registered between the ages of 18 and 60 after working at least 90 days in building or other construction work in the preceding 12 months, and the Rs 50 annual contribution is paid up to date.
3. The child is studying in one of the classes or courses listed in rule 275.
4. The child maintains at least 50 per cent annual attendance, certified by the educational institution. A condition added by the 2019 amendment.
5. The claim is for no more than two children of the beneficiary.

The following cannot apply or are not eligible.

• Children of construction workers who have never registered with the Board. Registration precedes the benefit; there is no direct scholarship for an unregistered worker's child.
• Children of a worker registered for less than one continuous year on the date of application.
• Children of a beneficiary whose membership has ceased under rule 267(3) for defaulting on the Rs 50 annual contribution for three continuous years, unless membership has been resumed on payment of arrears.
• A third or subsequent child, because the two-child ceiling in rule 275 is absolute.
• Both parents claiming for the same child. Where husband and wife are both registered beneficiaries, only one of them is eligible for education assistance.
• Boys in Classes 6 and 7, since that slab is written for girl children only.
• Students in private engineering, medical, management, architecture, pharmacy or hotel management colleges, because the Rs 40,000 rate is expressly limited to Government colleges.

How to apply for OB&OCWWB education assistance

1. Confirm the parent's registration. Log in at nirmanshramik.odisha.gov.in with the Construction Worker Login and check that registration is at least one year old and the Rs 50 annual contribution for the current financial year is paid. If it is not, use the Pay Annual Contribution link first.
2. Collect the school or college papers. Get the attested mark sheet of the last examination passed, a bonafide student certificate for the current class or course, and the attendance certificate showing at least 50 per cent annual attendance. For ITI, Diploma or Polytechnic claims under Nirman Kusum, also collect the fee receipt.
3. File the application online. Inside the Construction Worker Login, open the education assistance application, select the class or course exactly as it appears in rule 275, enter the child's details, and upload each document.
4. Or file offline. Submit the application in Form XLII with the same enclosures at the office of the District Labour Officer of the district where the parent is registered. Rule 285-A requires the forms to be available in Odia, and a form filled in Odia is valid for all purposes.
5. Sit through verification. The District Labour Office verifies registration, contribution status, the institution's certificates and the two-child limit before the claim moves to sanction.
6. Track it. Use the Application Tracking link on the portal home page with the application reference number.

How do I check the status of an education assistance claim?

Application Tracking on nirmanshramik.odisha.gov.in accepts the application reference generated at submission and shows the current stage. Sanctioned amounts are transferred to the bank account recorded against the parent's registration, not to the child or the institution, so the passbook copy on file must be current. Where the tracker shows sanction but the money has not landed, check the account number and IFSC in the registration record through the Construction Worker Login before approaching the district office.

Why do education assistance claims get rejected?

The commonest rejection is a registration that is less than one year old, or a lapsed one. Rule 275 requires continuous registration of one year, and rule 267 requires the Rs 50 to be paid every financial year.

The second is a mismatched course category. Applying at the Rs 40,000 rate for a private engineering or medical college fails, because that band is written for Government colleges only; the correct route for a private-college student is the general degree rate where it applies.

The third is the attendance certificate. Since 2019 the Board must satisfy itself that the child maintained 50 per cent annual attendance, and an application without an institutional certificate to that effect is incomplete.

The fourth is the two-child ceiling, a third child's claim is rejected on the rule, not on the merits, and the fifth is a duplicate claim by both parents for the same child.

Fixing these is mostly clerical: pay the arrears, get a fresh institutional certificate, and refile. A rejection on the two-child ceiling cannot be cured.

What are the key dates and how do I complain?

No annual last date is published for education assistance on the Board's portal, so applications are accepted through the year once the child's results and enrolment papers exist. The date that does bind is the Rs 50 annual contribution, which follows the financial year defined in rule 248(g) and may be paid in advance at any time during the year.

For grievances, approach the District Labour Officer first, as Registering Officer, that office holds the registration record and processes the claim. The next level is the Labour Commissioner, Odisha, who is Member Secretary of the Board. The Board's address is Odisha Building & Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board, Office of the Labour Commissioner, Unit-3, Kharavel Nagar, Bhubaneswar; telephone 0674-3120552; email obocwwboard@yahoo.com. The parent department is Labour & ESI, at labour.odisha.gov.in.