Pre-Matric Scholarship for the Students of Economically Backward Class

What is the Pre-Matric Scholarship for Economically Backward Class students?

Pre-Matric Scholarship for the Students of Economically Backward Class is a school-stage scholarship of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Government of Gujarat, administered through the Director of Developing Castes Welfare. The scheme pays a modest annual amount to students of the Economically Backward Class (EBC) studying in Standard 1 to Standard 10 in government and aided schools across Gujarat.

Pre-matric scholarships exist to attack a very specific number: the dropout rate before Class 10. A child who leaves school at Std 5 or Std 8 is statistically unlikely to return, and the reasons are rarely dramatic, a uniform that cannot be replaced, notebooks, a school bag, bus fare. The Gujarat EBC pre-matric scholarship is calibrated against those costs rather than against tuition, which is already free or nominal in government and aided schools.

The scheme covers both boys and girls, with the amounts structured by class and gender. Girls receive the higher of the two rates from Std 6 onward, which reflects the point in a girl's schooling where dropout risk rises sharply.

How much does the scholarship pay?

The amounts are annual, not monthly, and are paid once for the academic year by Direct Benefit Transfer into an Aadhaar-seeded bank account.

Reading the table across, a girl who stays in school from Std 1 to Std 10 draws Rs 500 a year for five years and Rs 1,000 a year for five years: Rs 7,500 over her school career. A boy on the same path draws Rs 750 for eight years and Rs 1,000 for two; Rs 8,000. These are small sums by design; the scheme is a retention nudge, not a maintenance grant.

Who is eligible for the EBC pre-matric scholarship?

A student can apply if:

• The student is studying in a government or aided primary or secondary school in Gujarat.
• The student belongs to an Economically Backward Class (EBC).
• The student is in Standard 1 to Standard 10.
• For Std 9 and Std 10, the family's annual income does not exceed Rs 6,00,000.

A student is not eligible and cannot apply if:

• The student attends an unaided private school. Only government and aided schools are covered.
• The student is not from an Economically Backward Class as certified by the competent authority. Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and OBC students have their own parallel pre-matric schemes on the same Digital Gujarat login.
• The student is above Standard 10. Post-matric scholarships take over from Std 11.
• The student is in Std 9 or 10 and family income exceeds Rs 6,00,000 a year.
• The student has already submitted another application for the same scholarship year, in which case all applications are rejected.

The income rule is the one most often misread. For Std 1 to 8 there is no income limit stated for this scheme; the income ceiling of Rs 6,00,000 applies specifically to Std 9 and Std 10. Attach a current income certificate for those two classes and do not assume an older certificate will still be accepted.

What documents are needed?

Digital Gujarat states plainly that unreadable uploaded documents allow the competent authority to reject the application. Scan flat, at good resolution, and check each file opens before you attach it.

How to apply on the Digital Gujarat portal

1. Register. Open the Digital Gujarat Portal at https://www.digitalgujarat.gov.in/ and click Register. Enter your mobile number, email and a password, then click Save.
2. Log in. Sign in with your user name (mobile number or email ID) and password.
3. Update the profile. Click My Profile, fill in every mandatory field, and click Update Profile. The profile is confirmed after you enter the OTP verification code. The application cannot be opened until this is done.
4. Open Scholarship Services. Under services, select Scholarship Services, then select the relevant scheme category.
5. Select the financial year. Choose the year you are applying for and click Change Financial Year.
6. Open the scheme. Select Pre-Matric Scholarship for the Students of Economically Backward Class, read the instructions on screen carefully, and click Continue to Service.
7. Fill the form and upload documents. Complete every section, student details, school details, class, bank account and family income, and upload the photograph, Aadhaar, EBC certificate, income certificate, marksheet and bank passbook page.
8. Save and submit. Click Save as Draft, tick the box agreeing to the terms and conditions, then click Confirm & Final Submit. Note the application number displayed.

User manuals in English and Gujarati are published on the Digital Gujarat portal and are worth opening alongside the form the first time.

Rules you must follow while applying

Digital Gujarat publishes several instructions for this scheme that carry real consequences:

• Photo upload is mandatory for all applicants.
• The application is complete only when every section is completed. A partially filled form is not held over; it simply is not considered.
• Only one application per applicant will be accepted. If a student submits more than one: from a single institute or from multiple institutions; all their applications are rejected by the competent authority, and no request from any side is entertained.
• Wrong or misleading information in the application leads to rejection by the department authorities.
• All documents must be scanned carefully as per the instructions given.
• There is no provision to change the institution once the application has been submitted successfully, so verify the school name before final submit.
• Unreadable uploads allow the authority to reject the application.
• Direct individual submission is not accepted for students studying inside Gujarat. Only students studying outside the state fill the form online and then submit the printed form to their native district officer.

That last rule is the one families most often trip on. If the student is in a Gujarat school, the application flows through the school and the district machinery — walking into an office with a printed form does not work.

How to check application status

Log back in to Digital Gujarat with the same credentials and open the application from your dashboard. The status shows which stage the file has reached: school verification, district scrutiny, sanction, or payment released. If the application has been returned, correct it and resubmit within the window; once the window closes, a returned application cannot be revived.

Why applications get rejected, and how to avoid it

• Duplicate applications. The most avoidable rejection, and the one with the harshest rule, since all copies are rejected.
• Private unaided school, which is outside the scheme's coverage.
• EBC certificate missing or issued by the wrong authority.
• Income certificate missing for Std 9 or 10, or showing income above Rs 6,00,000.
• Poor document scans.
• Photo not uploaded, leaving the application incomplete.
• Wrong school selected, which cannot be corrected after final submit.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, or a name mismatch between the bank record and the student record, which fails the DBT after sanction.
• Applied after the window closed.

Key dates

Digital Gujarat opens scholarship applications for a defined window each academic year, generally after school admissions settle. The scheme is selected against a specific financial year inside the portal, which is why the form asks you to change the financial year before continuing. Check the Scholarship Services section at the start of the academic year, note the closing date, and file early, the last week of the window is when the portal is slowest and when document re-uploads are hardest to get done in time.

Where to get help

• Digital Gujarat help desk: 18002335500, for registration, OTP, profile and upload problems.
• Your school's scholarship clerk or principal. The first point of contact, since school verification is a compulsory stage.
• Director, Developing Castes Welfare, Block No. 4, 3rd Floor, Dr. Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Gandhinagar; +91 79 23253245.
• District Social Welfare Officer in your district, the authority for students studying outside Gujarat and for stalled district-level files.
• Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Block No. 5, 8th Floor, Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar.

Applying is free. No school, officer or agent may charge a fee to process a pre-matric scholarship application, and no genuine official will ask for your Digital Gujarat password or OTP.