Savitribai Phule Scholarship for V.J.N.T. and S.B.C. Girl Students Studying in 8th to 10th Standard

What is the Savitribai Phule Scholarship for VJNT and SBC girls?

Savitribai Phule Scholarship for V.J.N.T. and S.B.C. Girl Students Studying in 8th to 10th Standard is a school scholarship of the Government of Maharashtra for girls belonging to Vimukta Jati and Nomadic Tribe (VJNT) and Special Backward Class (SBC) communities. The scholarship pays Rs 100 a month for 10 months, that is Rs 1,000 in an academic year, to every eligible girl enrolled in the 8th, 9th or 10th standard.

The scheme is named after Savitribai Phule, who with Jyotirao Phule opened the first school for girls in Pune in 1848, and its object is the one she worked on: keeping girls in school. Maharashtra's own scheme pages state the purpose directly; to reduce the dropout rate of backward class girls studying in the 5th to 7th and 8th to 10th standards. Adolescence is precisely where girls from these communities leave school, and the scholarship is a small, unconditional counterweight at that point.

Administration of this scholarship has moved. It originated with the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department, whose scheme page traces the scholarship's authority to a government resolution of 12 January 1996, and the VJNT and SBC version was introduced from the academic year 2003-04. The VJNT, OBC and SBC portfolio has since been carved out into the Other Backward Bahujan Welfare Department (in Marathi, Itar Magas Bahujan Kalyan Vibhag), which now handles this version of the scholarship. Older listings, including myScheme, still show it under Social Justice. Both descriptions refer to the same scheme.

How much does the Savitribai Phule Scholarship pay?

This guide covers the 8th to 10th standard version, which pays Rs 1,000 a year. The 5th to 7th version is a separate scheme entry with the lower rate, and a girl moves from one to the other automatically as she moves up a standard: she does not need to re-apply.

The amount is deliberately small and is not meant to cover fees. It is a retention incentive: money in a girl's own account that recognises she is still in school. Families needing help with fees, uniforms, books or hostel costs should look at the department's separate schemes, including hostel admission and the Dnyanjyoti Savitribai Phule Aadhaar Yojana maintenance allowance for higher education, which are far larger in value.

Payment is for 10 months, tied to the school year, so no instalment falls in the vacation months.

Who is eligible for the Savitribai Phule Scholarship?

A girl can receive the scholarship if:

• She belongs to a notified Vimukta Jati, Nomadic Tribe or Special Backward Class community in Maharashtra and holds a valid caste certificate.
• She is enrolled in standard 8, 9 or 10 in a recognised school in Maharashtra.
• She is resident in Maharashtra.
• She has, or her family can open, a bank account in her own name for the credit.

That is the entire list. The Maharashtra government's scheme pages are explicit on the two conditions that normally disqualify students elsewhere:

• There is no income limit. Parental income is irrelevant to this scholarship.
• There is no minimum marks requirement. A girl who failed a subject last year is still eligible.

Who cannot apply, and who is not eligible:

• Boys. The scheme is confined to girl students by design.
• Girls outside the VJNT and SBC categories under this particular entry. Scheduled Caste girls are covered at the same Rs 60 and Rs 100 rates under the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department's parallel Savitribai Phule scholarship, so the correct scheme follows the caste certificate.
• Girls in standards 5 to 7, who fall under the separate lower-rate version paying Rs 60 a month.
• Girls in standards 11 and above, who are past this scheme and should look at post-matric scholarship schemes instead.
• Girls in unrecognised schools. The school must be a recognised institution, since the claim is routed through it.
• Girls resident outside Maharashtra, even if they belong to a notified community.
• A girl whose name is struck off the school rolls mid-year, whose claim ends for the remaining months.

What documents are required?

The caste certificate is the document that matters. It is issued by the Tehsildar or Sub-Divisional Officer, applied for through a Setu or Aaple Sarkar service centre, and it takes weeks. A certificate that says only "backward class" without naming a notified VJNT or SBC community is the most common reason a name is dropped from the school's list. Get it made in the year the girl enters standard 8 rather than in the month the list is being compiled.

How to apply for the Savitribai Phule Scholarship

The application is paperless from the student's side. Maharashtra's scheme pages state that the eligible student and her parents are not required to submit an application; the headmaster files a consolidated proposal for the whole school. What a family actually has to do is make sure the girl is on that list with correct papers.

1. Confirm the caste certificate is in hand and correct. Check that it names a notified Vimukta Jati, Nomadic Tribe or Special Backward Class community, and that the girl's name and date of birth match the school record exactly.
2. Give the school a copy of the caste certificate, Aadhaar and bank passbook at the start of the academic year, and ask the class teacher to record the girl as a VJNT or SBC category student in the school register.
3. Ask the headmaster to include her in the Savitribai Phule Scholarship list. The headmaster compiles the list of eligible VJNT and SBC girl students in standards 8 to 10 and submits it to the district authority — the District Social Welfare Officer, Zilla Parishad, or in Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban the Assistant Commissioner, Social Welfare.
4. Have the school file it through MahaDBT where the district requires it. Maharashtra routes scholarship payments through the MahaDBT portal at mahadbt.maharashtra.gov.in, and schools increasingly enter the list there rather than on paper.
5. Open or verify a bank account in the girl's own name and get it Aadhaar-seeded at the branch. Payment is a direct benefit transfer, and an unseeded account is the commonest reason a sanctioned scholarship never arrives.
6. Ask the headmaster for written confirmation that the name has gone into the submitted list, and note the date. This is the only acknowledgement a family gets in a paperless scheme.
7. Check the bank account after the sanction is released, and go back to the headmaster with the passbook if nothing is credited.

How to check whether the scholarship has been sanctioned

There is no public status-tracking screen where a parent can type a number and see this particular scholarship. Check status in this order:

1. The headmaster's office, which holds the submitted list and the sanction communication from the district. This resolves most cases, because most failures are at the list stage.
2. The District Social Welfare Officer, Zilla Parishad, or the Assistant Commissioner, Social Welfare in Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban, if the school says the list has gone up and nothing has come back.
3. The MahaDBT portal at mahadbt.maharashtra.gov.in, if your school filed the claim there. The school's login shows the status of each student in the submitted batch.
4. The bank branch, to confirm the account is Aadhaar-seeded and active, if the district says the payment was released.

Why the scholarship does not reach some eligible girls

• The school never included her in the list. In a paperless scheme this is the single largest failure point, and it is invisible to the family until the money does not arrive. The fix is to ask the headmaster in writing, early.
• Caste certificate does not name a notified VJNT or SBC community, or has not been made at all.
• Name or date of birth mismatch between the caste certificate, Aadhaar and the school register. Correct the school record first, since that is what the list is built from.
• Bank account not in the girl's own name, or not Aadhaar-seeded, so the direct transfer fails and bounces back.
• Wrong scheme applied, a Scheduled Caste girl entered under the VJNT and SBC head, or a standard 7 student entered at the Rs 100 rate. Match the scheme to the caste certificate and the standard.
• Girl left school or was struck off the rolls during the year, which ends the claim for the remaining months.
• Late submission by the school, which usually pushes the claim into the next sanction cycle rather than cancelling it.

Where to complain or get help

• Headmaster of the school, the first and most effective contact, because the school both identifies and files the claim.
• District Social Welfare Officer, Zilla Parishad in your district, for sanction and payment grievances.
• Assistant Commissioner, Social Welfare, for Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban.
• Other Backward Bahujan Welfare Department, Government of Maharashtra, at obcbahujankalyan.maharashtra.gov.in, which administers the VJNT and SBC schemes, and the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department at sjsa.maharashtra.gov.in, which publishes the scheme's terms.
• Tehsildar or Aaple Sarkar centre, for the caste certificate itself.

The scholarship costs nothing to claim. No fee is payable to the school, to any official or to any agent, and the money is credited only to the student's own bank account.