Award of Scholarship to the Children who are Recipients of National Child Award for Exceptional Achievements and Other National / International Merit Awards

What is this Puducherry scholarship for award-winning children?

Award of Scholarship to the Children who are Recipients of National Child Award for Exceptional Achievements and Other National / International Merit Awards is a scholarship scheme of the Directorate of School Education, Union Territory of Puducherry.

The department gives the scheme two stated objectives. The first is to recognise the talents of children who are recipients of the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievements and other national or international merit awards. The second is broader: to recognise the talents of other children who are pursuing outstanding achievements in different fields of human resource development.

That second objective is what makes the scheme wider than its title suggests. It is not confined to a single national prize list. A child from Puducherry who has won a recognised national or international award, whether in science, sport, art, music or another field, falls within its scope, and the document list asks specifically for relevant certificates of exceptional achievements in different fields of human resource development alongside the award testimonials.

The scholarship is Rs 6,000 per annum per student, disbursed directly into the student's Aadhaar-seeded viable bank account by Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) through the Electronic Clearance System (ECS).

Who is eligible for this scholarship?

A child is eligible if all three conditions are met:

• The child is domiciled in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• The child is a recipient of the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievements, or of other national or international merit awards.
• The child studies in an educational institution run by any State Government or the Central Government, or in a private school recognised by the respective State or Central Government.

Notably, the institution does not have to be in Puducherry. The scheme expressly contemplates applicants studying outside the Union Territory, and provides for the application in such cases to be countersigned by the competent educational authority of the respective State or Union Territory. That is a sensible design, because children who win national and international awards are often studying at specialist institutions elsewhere in India.

Who is not eligible:

• Children who hold no national or international merit award, and no certificate of exceptional achievement of the kind the scheme recognises. A strong school record or a district or state level prize alone does not meet the threshold.
• Children not domiciled in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• Children studying in an institution that is neither government-run nor government-recognised, which includes unrecognised private schools and coaching establishments.
• Applicants studying outside Puducherry whose applications are not countersigned by the competent educational authority of that State or Union Territory.

The department does not publish an income ceiling for this scholarship, so it is a recognition award rather than a means-tested one.

What documents are required?

The award testimonials are the heart of the application. A citation on letterhead, a certificate signed by the awarding body, and any published notification naming the child are all worth enclosing, because the department is being asked to accept that a specific national or international award was in fact conferred.

How to apply for this scholarship

1. Visit the Head of the Institution (HoI) of the student's own educational institution and request a hard copy of the prescribed application form for this scheme. There is no online form.
2. Fill in all the mandatory fields, and paste the passport-sized photograph, signed across where required.
3. Attach self-attested copies of all the mandatory documents. The award testimonials, the certificates of exceptional achievement, the residential or domicile certificate, the Aadhaar card and the bank account details.
4. If the student studies outside Puducherry, get the application countersigned by the competent educational authority of that State or Union Territory before submitting it.
5. Submit the duly filled and signed form with the documents to the Head of the Institution, who then sends the applications on to the Directorate of School Education, Puducherry.
6. Keep a photocopy of everything submitted with the date of submission, since the institution is where any later query begins.

How to follow up on the application

1. Start with the Head of the Institution, who holds the record of what was forwarded to the Directorate and when. The scheme issues no citizen-facing tracking number.
2. Where the student studies outside Puducherry, confirm that the countersignature was obtained before dispatch, because an application without it will be returned.
3. Check that the student's bank account is Aadhaar-seeded, since an ECS credit to an unseeded account fails silently after sanction.
4. For departmental queries, the Directorate of School Education, Puducherry publishes its section contacts at schooledn.py.gov.in.

Why applications for this scholarship go wrong

• The award relied on is not national or international. District, zonal and state level prizes do not by themselves meet the threshold set by the scheme.
• Award testimonials not enclosed, or enclosed only as a photograph of a trophy rather than as a certificate or citation.
• Domicile certificate issued by an officer below Deputy Tahsildar rank, or showing an address outside Puducherry.
• No countersignature from the competent educational authority where the student studies in another State or Union Territory.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the credit does not land.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the school record, the award citation and the bank account. Award citations often carry a name in a different form from the school register.
• The institution is not government-run or government-recognised.

Related Puducherry scholarships

The Directorate of School Education runs two neighbouring schemes on the same model, both routed through the head of the institution the child attends. The Award of Scholarship to Cadets at the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun pays Rs 20,000 per annum, and the Grant of Annual Scholarship to students at the Sainik School, Amaravathi Nagar, Tamil Nadu pays Rs 10,000 per annum. All three recognise Puducherry children studying in institutions of national standing, and all three pay by Direct Benefit Transfer to an Aadhaar-seeded account.

Where to get help

• Head of the student's institution — the point of issue for the form and the office that forwards the application.
• Directorate of School Education, Puducherry: schooledn.py.gov.in, for departmental circulars and section contacts.
• Revenue Department, Puducherry, for the residential or domicile certificate, which must come from an officer not below Deputy Tahsildar rank.

There is no fee for the application, and no agent has any role in this scheme.