SAHAYA Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship, Odisha

What is the SAHAYA Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship?

SAHAYA Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship is an education benefit run by the Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Department, Government of Odisha. It is not a standalone scheme. It is the third of 13 programme components of SAHAYA, the department's umbrella scheme for the protection, care and rehabilitation of beggars and destitute.

The scholarship's stated objective in the SAHAYA guidelines is to provide financial assistance to child beggars and children of beggars and destitute studying at the pre-matriculation, post-matriculation or post-secondary stage, so that they can complete their education. The guidelines make one geographic restriction explicit: these scholarships are available for studies in India only, and are awarded where the applicant is studying.

Readers searching for "Sahaya scheme scholarship Odisha" sometimes expect a general-purpose pre and post matric scholarship of the kind run by the ST & SC Development Department. That is a different programme. SAHAYA is targeted narrowly at beggary and destitution, and the eligibility conditions below reflect that.

Where SAHAYA sits

The other twelve components of SAHAYA are survey and identification, assistance to parents, skill development training, self-employment kits, self-help groups, rehabilitation centres, outreach and mobilisation units, mainstreaming award, marriage incentives and support, sensitisation of workers and activists, community awareness campaigns, and research and documentation. The department describes the whole package as being operated in mission mode.

Who is eligible for the SAHAYA scholarship?

The guidelines set out five conditions, and all five must be met.

You can apply if:

• You are a bona fide resident of Odisha.
• You are a beggar, or a child of a beggar or destitute.
• You are a regular student of a recognised educational institution.
• Your family income is not more than Rs 2,40,000 per annum.
• You are not in receipt of any financial assistance from the state government or the central government under any other scheme.

You are not eligible, or cannot apply, if:

• You are not from a beggar or destitute background. This is the defining condition of the scheme and it is not waived on grounds of general poverty.
• Your family income exceeds Rs 2,40,000 a year.
• You are a private or correspondence candidate rather than a regular student of a recognised institution.
• You already draw a state or central government scholarship. The guidelines exclude such students from consideration.
• You are studying outside India. The scholarships are available for studies in India only.
• You are below Class V. The pre-matric rate begins at Standard V.
• You are not a resident of Odisha.

How much does the SAHAYA scholarship pay?

The scholarship is payable for a maximum of 10 months in an academic year, from the month of admission up to the end of the academic session including the month of examination. At the top rate that works out to about Rs 25,000 in a year for a student on a professional course, and about Rs 10,000 a year for a pre-matric student.

One relief is built in. For continued absence for a period not exceeding three months, the scholarship is paid in full provided the absence was on health grounds. For continuous prolonged absence without reasons, the DSSO concerned takes a decision after making an inquiry into the merits of the case.

What documents are required for the SAHAYA scholarship?

How to apply for the SAHAYA scholarship in Odisha

1. Apply immediately after taking admission. The guidelines say the student submits the application as given in Annexure B through the head of the institution immediately after admission; do not wait for the session to settle.
2. Fill the prescribed format and hand it to the head of your school, college or institution, along with the income certificate, residence proof and account details. Applications are not filed directly with the department.
3. The head of the institution verifies the information against available records and recommends the case for sanction to the concerned District Social Security Officer.
4. The DSSO scrutinises all recommended applications and gets them sanctioned by the Collector as per rules and procedures.
5. Open the bank account correctly. After sanction, the DSSO or the head of the institution ensures an account is opened in the candidate's own name if the candidate is 18 years or above, or a joint account with the father, mother or guardian if the candidate is below 18.
6. Follow up on remittance. The DSSO places block and ULB wise fund requirements before the department by the end of September, the department releases funds, and the DSSO remits the scholarship directly to the student's account with the Collector's approval.

How is the money released and accounted for?

The financial cycle in the guidelines is worth knowing, because it explains delays that students often misread as rejection.

DSSOs must submit their requirement of funds to the department by the end of September. The department then releases funds in a first allotment to the DSSOs, who remit the money directly to the students. The scholarship required is remitted in advance for the year in question and rolls over to the next academic session.

On the accounting side, the utilisation certificate on the expenditure must be submitted by the DSSO with proof of remittance, duly countersigned by the Collector, to the department by 28 February each year, and consolidated utilisation certificates by 31 March. Undisbursed balances are rolled over for the next year's payment and must be utilised first, so an unspent balance is not simply lost to the district.

DSSOs are also required to make online entry of data on students, including information on passing out from the course with certification, which is how the department tracks completion.

What else does SAHAYA offer a beggar or destitute family?

The scholarship is best understood alongside the component that feeds it.

• Assistance to Parents pays Rs 1,000 per child per month to parents who are beggars or destitute and permanent domiciles of Odisha, payable until the child attains 18 years. Where a parent has died, the supportive money goes to the guardian on production of a guardianship certificate from the competent authority. The guidelines describe this component as a feeder programme for the pre and post matric scholarship.
• Skill development training for persons in destitution above 18 years, where parents' or guardians' income from all sources does not exceed Rs 2.40 lakh a year, conforming to NSQF, OSDA or SIDAC standards.
• Self-employment kits for those who prefer a start-up kit to formal vocational training.
• Self-help groups of not less than 5 members, registered and graded by the DSSO, which receive one-time assistance of Rs 1,25,000 for initial activity support and start-up capital.
• Rehabilitation centres run by Project Implementing Agencies, sanctioned a maintenance cost of Rs 6,000 per beneficiary per month covering food, rent, treatment, clothing and staff remuneration.
• Outreach and mobilisation units in larger cities, which run a helpline and counselling and refer identified beggars and destitute to service centres.

A family approaching the DSSO about the scholarship should ask about the Assistance to Parents component at the same visit, since the two are designed to work together.

Common reasons a SAHAYA scholarship application fails

• Filed directly with the DSSO instead of through the head of the institution.
• Already drawing another government scholarship, which is an outright disqualification.
• Income certificate above Rs 2,40,000.
• Applied late in the session, after the DSSO had already sent the district requirement to the department at the end of September.
• Wrong account type — a student below 18 with an account not held jointly with a parent or guardian.
• Not a regular student of a recognised institution.

Help and grievance redressal

• SSEPD Department, Government of Odisha: Red Building, Lokseva Bhawan, Bhubaneswar 751001. Telephone 0674-2392803, email ssepdsec.od@od.gov.in.
• District Social Security Officer (DSSO) of your district, who sanctions, remits and tracks the scholarship. The list of DSSOs is published on ssepd.odisha.gov.in.
• Head of your educational institution, who holds the recommending role and can tell you whether your file went forward.
• Jana Sunani, the Odisha public grievance portal at janasunani.odisha.gov.in.

Applying is free. No fee is payable to any official, institution or agent for filing or forwarding a SAHAYA scholarship application.

How to check your SAHAYA scholarship application status

SAHAYA has no student-facing online tracking portal. The application moves on paper through the head of the institution to the District Social Security Officer (DSSO) and then to the Collector for sanction, so checking status means following up at each of those points rather than logging into a website.

1. Start with the head of your institution. Since the application was filed through them and not by you directly, they are the first person who can tell you whether your file has actually been forwarded to the DSSO, and when.
2. Contact the District Social Security Officer of your district. The DSSO is the office that scrutinises recommended applications and gets them sanctioned by the Collector, and later remits the money to the student's account. The DSSO's office can confirm whether your case has been sanctioned, is pending scrutiny, or has been remitted. The list of DSSOs by district is published on ssepd.odisha.gov.in.
3. Check your bank or post office account directly around the period after the DSSO places its fund requirement before the department (end of September) and after the department's release of funds. Since SAHAYA is remitted directly to the student's account (or the joint account with a parent or guardian for those below 18), a credit in the account is the clearest confirmation that the scholarship has come through for that academic year.
4. Call the SSEPD Department helpline if the DSSO is unresponsive. The department can be reached at 0674-2392803 or by email at ssepdsec.od@od.gov.in, and can point you back to the correct DSSO if there is confusion about where the file is stuck.
5. Use Jana Sunani for an unresolved delay. If neither the institution nor the DSSO gives a clear answer after a reasonable wait, applicants can raise the matter as a grievance on Odisha's public grievance portal, janasunani.odisha.gov.in, which is the formal escalation route for state department delays.

Because DSSOs are required to make online entry of student data as part of the scheme's monitoring, an applicant who visits the DSSO office in person can generally ask to see whether their name appears in that district's list, which is often faster than waiting for a written reply.