Sweekruti Pre and Post Matric Scholarship for Transgender Students

What is the Sweekruti Pre and Post Matric Scholarship?

Sweekruti Pre and Post Matric Scholarship is one of twelve programme components under Sweekruti, A Scheme for Promotion of Transgender Equality and Justice, an umbrella scheme run by the Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Department, Government of Odisha. The scheme is often written in Odia transliteration as Swikruti, and readers searching for "Swikruti scholarship Odisha" are looking for this same programme.

According to the SSEPD guidelines on Sweekruti, the objective of the scholarship component is to provide financial assistance to transgender students studying at the post-matriculation or post-secondary stage so that they can complete their education. In practice the rate table starts from Class V, so the component covers both the pre-matric and post-matric stages. The scholarships are awarded for studies in India only, and they are awarded in the state or district where the applicant is actually studying.

Sweekruti as a whole was framed to respond to the exclusion transgender persons face in education, housing and employment. The scholarship sits alongside a parallel component that pays Rs 1,500 a month to the parents of a transgender child until the child turns 18. The guidelines describe that assistance as a "feeder programme" that is meant to keep transgender children in school long enough to reach the scholarship stage.

Key features

• Fully state-funded, with money released by SSEPD Department to District Social Security Officers (DSSOs) and remitted directly to student bank accounts.
• Paid at five different monthly rates depending on the level of study.
• Capped at 10 months in an academic year.
• Sanctioned by the District Collector on the DSSO's recommendation.
• Cannot be combined with any other Central or State Government scholarship.

How much does the Sweekruti scholarship pay?

The Sweekruti guidelines publish a five-row rate table. All figures are per month, and the maximum period payable is 10 months in an academic year.

The scholarship is payable from the month of admission up to the end of the academic session including the month of the examination, always subject to the 10-month ceiling. The guidelines also state that the money required is remitted in advance for the year in question and rolls over to the next academic session, so a student who stays on the rolls does not have to re-establish the claim from scratch every term.

Absence is handled explicitly. For continued absence not exceeding three months the scholarship is paid in full, provided the absence was on health grounds. For prolonged absence without a justified reason, the DSSO takes a decision after holding an inquiry.

Who is eligible for the Sweekruti scholarship?

You can claim the scholarship if:

• You are a bona fide resident of Odisha.
• You hold a transgender identity certificate obtained from the national portal for transgender persons.
• 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 cannot apply if:

• You are not a resident of Odisha, or you are studying outside India; Sweekruti scholarships are for studies in India only.
• Your family income exceeds Rs 2,40,000 a year.
• You are already drawing a Central or State Government scholarship, stipend or financial aid for the same course. The head of institution has to certify this point on the application form, and a double claim will be rejected.
• You are enrolled as a private, distance or irregular candidate where the institution cannot certify you as a regular student, with the exception of the open university and non-formal courses category, which has its own rate line.
• You do not hold a transgender certificate. Self-declaration is not accepted in place of the national portal certificate.

There is no upper age limit published in the Sweekruti guidelines, and no caste or disability condition — the eligibility test is transgender identity, residence, regular studentship, income and non-duplication.

What documents are required?

Annexure B of the Sweekruti guidelines is the prescribed application form for award of scholarship. It asks for the student's name, date of birth with birth certificate enclosed, caste or sub-caste, Aadhaar number with a copy if available, parent's name and address, guardian's name with a guardianship certificate from the competent authority where applicable, family income per annum with income certificate enclosed, details of the last examination passed with mark sheet and certificate, the course or class for which the scholarship is sought along with academic session and date of admission, the name and address of the institution, whether the student is a hosteller or a day scholar, and details of any scholarship or stipend already being received.

A passport size photograph must be affixed. The declaration at the foot of the form warns that wrong information makes the applicant liable to legal action and to recovery of the scholarship amount, so figures on the income certificate and the form must match.

How to apply for the Sweekruti scholarship

Sweekruti is an offline, institution-routed scholarship. There is no self-registration portal for it. The guidelines put the head of the institution in the middle of the chain.

1. Get your transgender certificate. Obtain the identity certificate from the national portal for transgender persons. The guidelines require this certificate to accompany the application.
2. Collect and fill Annexure B. Get the prescribed scholarship application form from your institution or the District Social Security Officer's office and complete every field, affixing a passport size photograph.
3. Attach the supporting papers. Enclose the income certificate, birth certificate, last examination mark sheet and certificate, Aadhaar copy, bank passbook copy and, where relevant, the guardianship certificate.
4. Submit through the head of your institution immediately after admission. The guidelines say applications are to be submitted through the head of institution "immediately after taking admission", do not wait until the session is over.
5. Institution verifies and recommends. The head of institution checks your particulars against the institutional records, certifies whether you receive any other scholarship, and forwards the application with a recommendation to the DSSO of the district.
6. DSSO scrutiny and Collector's sanction. The DSSO scrutinises the recommended applications and gets them sanctioned by the Collector as per rules, then places the block-wise and ULB-wise fund requirement with the SSEPD Department by the end of September.
7. Open the correct bank account. The DSSO or the institution head ensures an account exists in the candidate's name if the candidate is 18 or above, or a joint account with father, mother or guardian if the candidate is below 18. The department releases funds to the DSSO, who remits the scholarship directly to that account.

How do I check my Sweekruti application status?

The primary point of contact is the District Social Security Officer (DSSO) of your district, since the DSSO holds the sanction file and executes the payment. The SSEPD website publishes a list of DSSOs with their office addresses.

The Sweekruti guidelines also require DSSOs to make online entry of data on assisted students, including information on passing out from the course, on the SSEPD monitoring portal. If your payment does not arrive, ask the DSSO office to confirm whether your case has been entered, sanctioned by the Collector, and included in the fund requirement sent to the department.

Two internal deadlines are useful to quote when you follow up. DSSOs must submit the fund requirement to the department by the end of September, and must submit the utilisation certificate with proof of remittance, countersigned by the Collector, by 28 February each year. A claim that misses the September requirement will normally roll into the next release.

Why Sweekruti scholarship applications get rejected

• No national-portal transgender certificate. This is the single most common gap. A hospital letter or an affidavit is not a substitute.
• Income above Rs 2,40,000. Family income, not the student's own income, is the test, and the certificate must come from the competent revenue authority.
• Another scholarship already running. Sweekruti will not stack on top of a Central or State scholarship for the same course. Withdraw from the other scheme first if Sweekruti is worth more to you.
• Bank account in the wrong name. Students under 18 need a joint account with a parent or guardian; students 18 or above need an account in their own name. A third-party account will stop the remittance.
• Application not routed through the institution. A form handed directly to the DSSO without the institution head's verification and recommendation does not enter the sanction chain.
• Late submission. Applying long after admission risks missing the DSSO's end-of-September fund requirement.

Key dates and grievance route

Sweekruti has no single advertised last date. The operative timeline is: apply immediately after admission; DSSOs place fund requirements with the department by end of September; utilisation certificates are due by 28 February; and undisbursed balances are rolled over and used first in the following year.

For grievances, escalate in this order: head of institution, then the District Social Security Officer, then the District Collector who is the sanctioning authority, and finally the SSEPD Department at Lok Seva Bhawan, Bhubaneswar 751001, telephone 0674-2392803, email ssepdsec.od@od.gov.in. The Odisha government's common grievance platform, Jana Sunani, is also available for escalation.