Grant of Annual Scholarship to the Students Belonging to UT of Puducherry Selected and Studying in the Sainik School, Amaravathi Nagar, Tamil Nadu

What is the Sainik School Amaravathi Nagar scholarship?

Grant of Annual Scholarship to the Students Belonging to UT of Puducherry Selected and Studying in the Sainik School, Amaravathi Nagar, Tamil Nadu, is a scholarship scheme of the Directorate of School Education, Union Territory of Puducherry.

Sainik School Amaravathi Nagar, in the Udumalpet area of Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu, is one of the network of Sainik Schools set up to prepare boys and girls for entry into the National Defence Academy and the officer cadre of the armed forces. It is the Sainik School nearest to Puducherry, and it is where most Puducherry children selected for Sainik School education end up. Seats are allotted by state and Union Territory quota, and Puducherry's share is small.

Under this scheme, a scholarship of Rs 10,000 per annum per student is disbursed directly into the Aadhaar-seeded viable bank account of the student by Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) through the Electronic Clearance System (ECS).

The scholarship is not designed to meet the full cost of residential schooling. It is a contribution towards the recurring costs a Puducherry family carries when a child studies in another state; travel between Puducherry and Amaravathi Nagar during term breaks, kit and uniform replacement, and personal expenses at a residential school.

Who is eligible for the Sainik School scholarship?

A student is eligible if:

• The student is a citizen of India.
• The student is domiciled in the Union Territory of Puducherry, belonging to Puducherry either by birth or by domicile, meaning continuous residence of not less than five years.
• The student is studying in the Sainik School, Amaravathi Nagar, Tamil Nadu.
• The student has studied in an educational institution run by a State Government or the Central Government, or in a private school recognised by the respective State or Central Government.

Who is not eligible:

• Students at any other Sainik School. The scheme names Amaravathi Nagar specifically. A Puducherry student at another Sainik School is not covered by this scheme.
• Students at the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun, who are covered by a separate Puducherry scholarship of Rs 20,000 per annum rather than by this one.
• Students not domiciled in Puducherry, meaning neither born there nor continuously resident for five years or more.
• Students whose previous institution was neither a government school nor a government-recognised private school.

One point of caution on the published eligibility list. The scheme record on myScheme also carries a line requiring the applicant to be a recipient of the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievements or other national or international merit awards. That condition belongs to a different Puducherry scholarship. The Award of Scholarship to the Children who are Recipients of the National Child Award, which pays Rs 6,000 per annum, and appears to have been carried across in the data entry. It does not sit consistently with a scheme whose whole basis is selection into a Sainik School. A family should confirm the operative conditions with the Principal of the Sainik School or with the Directorate of School Education before assuming a national award is required.

What documents are required?

The domicile certificate must come from an officer of the Revenue Department not below the rank of a Deputy Tahsildar. A certificate from a village administrative officer or a municipal office, however genuine, will be sent back. Because the certificate has to be obtained in Puducherry, families usually arrange it during a term break rather than trying to do it from Amaravathi Nagar.

How to apply for the Sainik School annual scholarship

1. Visit the Principal, Sainik School, Amaravathi Nagar, Tamil Nadu, and request a hard copy of the prescribed application form for this scheme. There is no online form and nothing to download.
2. Fill in all the mandatory fields on the form, and paste the passport-sized photograph, signed across where required.
3. Attach self-attested copies of all the mandatory documents — proof of admission into the Sainik School, the residential or domicile certificate, the Aadhaar card and the bank account details.
4. Submit the duly filled and signed form with the documents to the Principal, who then sends the applications on to the Directorate of School Education, Puducherry.
5. Keep a photocopy of everything submitted, with the date of submission, because the Principal's office is where any later query starts.

How to follow up on the scholarship

1. Begin with the Principal's office at the Sainik School, which holds the record of what was forwarded to Puducherry and when. The scheme issues no citizen-facing tracking number.
2. Confirm the student's bank account is Aadhaar-seeded, since an ECS credit to an unseeded account will simply fail after sanction.
3. For departmental queries, the Directorate of School Education, Puducherry publishes its section contacts at schooledn.py.gov.in.
4. Ask the Principal's office each year whether a fresh form is required for the next academic year, since the grant is annual.

Why applications go wrong

• Domicile certificate issued by an officer below Deputy Tahsildar rank, or showing an address outside Puducherry.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, the commonest reason a sanctioned amount never reaches the family.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the school record and the bank account, which is frequent where the school record carries an initial or an expanded surname.
• Proof of admission not enclosed, leaving the department without evidence of the one fact the scheme turns on.
• The form submitted directly to the Directorate rather than through the Principal, so it falls outside the department's process.
• The previous school not government-run or government-recognised.

Related Puducherry scholarships

Puducherry runs a small family of scholarships for children in service-pattern and merit institutions outside the Union Territory. The nearest relatives of this one are the Award of Scholarship to Cadets at the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun, at Rs 20,000 per annum, and the Award of Scholarship to Children who are Recipients of the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievements and Other National or International Merit Awards, at Rs 6,000 per annum. All three are administered by the Directorate of School Education and all three are routed through the head of the institution the child attends.

Where to get help

• Principal, Sainik School, Amaravathi Nagar, Tamil Nadu. The point of issue for the form and the office that forwards applications.
• Directorate of School Education, Puducherry; schooledn.py.gov.in.
• Revenue Department, Puducherry, for the residential or domicile certificate.

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