Scholarship for PM CARES Children

What is the Scholarship for PM CARES Children?

Scholarship for PM CARES Children is a Central Sector scheme run by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. According to the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment scheme listing, the scholarship funds the school education of children already enrolled as beneficiaries under the PM CARES for Children programme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

The scheme pays Rs 20,000 per child per year. The PM CARES for Children portal breaks this into a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 and an annual academic allowance of Rs 8,000 intended to meet school fees, books, uniform, shoes and other educational equipment. The money is credited through Direct Benefit Transfer, so no school or intermediary handles it.

Scholarship for PM CARES Children is deliberately narrow. It exists to make sure that a child orphaned by COVID-19 does not drop out of school for want of fees or uniform money, and it stops at Class 12. Everything else. The Rs 10 lakh corpus, the monthly stipend from age 18 to 23, the Rs 5 lakh Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY cover and the education-loan interest support, belongs to the parent programme. Read the PM CARES for Children guide for those.

Key points

• Central Sector scheme, 100% funded by the Government of India.
• Announced in 2022 as a dedicated scholarship component for PM CARES children.
• Covers Class 1 to Class 12; disbursed by DBT.
• No separate application form and no National Scholarship Portal listing.

Who is eligible for the Scholarship for PM CARES Children?

A child qualifies if:

• The child is an approved beneficiary under PM CARES for Children, verified by the District Magistrate and recorded on pmcaresforchildren.in.
• The child is studying in Class 1 to Class 12 in the current academic year.
• The child has a bank account, or an account operated by the guardian, that is Aadhaar-seeded for DBT.

Enrolment under the parent programme is itself limited. PM CARES for Children covers a child who lost both parents, or the surviving parent, or a legal guardian or adoptive parent, to COVID-19 during the period beginning 11 March 2020, and who was below 18 years of age on the date of that death.

You cannot apply if:

• The child is not enrolled under PM CARES for Children. There is no route into this scholarship from outside that beneficiary list, however difficult the family's circumstances.
• The parent's death was not certified as caused by COVID-19. This is the single most common reason applications to the parent programme were rejected.
• The child has passed Class 12 or is no longer in school. Higher-education support runs through the education-loan and higher-study provisions of PM CARES for Children, not through this scholarship.
• The family is seeking a fresh enrolment now; enrolment under PM CARES for Children is closed, so new children are not eligible.

Children who lost one parent only, or who lost parents to a cause other than COVID-19, are not eligible here. Depending on the state, they may instead be covered by state orphan-care schemes, by Mission Vatsalya sponsorship, or — at the technical-education stage, by the Swanath Scholarship Scheme.

What documents are required for the Scholarship for PM CARES Children?

Most of these were already submitted when the child was enrolled under PM CARES for Children. Families are usually asked only for the fresh school bonafide certificate each year.

How to apply for the Scholarship for PM CARES Children

Scholarship for PM CARES Children has no public application window. The steps below are the real route by which a child's scholarship is set up or restored.

1. Confirm the child's PM CARES for Children enrolment status by logging in at pmcaresforchildren.in, or by asking the District Child Protection Unit for the approved record and reference number.
2. If the child is enrolled but not receiving the scholarship, approach the District Magistrate or District Child Protection Officer in writing, quoting the PM CARES for Children reference number.
3. Submit the current-year school bonafide certificate so that the district office can confirm the child is studying in Class 1 to 12.
4. Give the district office an Aadhaar-seeded bank account in the child's name, or a guardian-operated account, and check the seeding status with the bank branch.
5. Follow up with the scheme helpline on 011-23381970, or the technical helpdesk on 011-23388074, if the record is correct but no credit appears after the next disbursal cycle.

There is no fee at any stage, and no agent can add a child to the beneficiary list.

How much benefit does the Scholarship for PM CARES Children provide?

The scholarship is Rs 20,000 a year per child, paid as:

• Rs 1,000 per month as a maintenance allowance, that is Rs 12,000 a year.
• Rs 8,000 per year as an academic allowance for school fees, books, uniform, shoes and other educational equipment.

The amount does not vary by class, by state or by type of school, and it is not reduced if the child is studying in a government school where fees are already free. Payment is by DBT into the child's account.

How does this scheme fit with the rest of PM CARES for Children?

PM CARES for Children is administered by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and gives an eligible child a Rs 10 lakh corpus released on turning 23, a monthly stipend between ages 18 and 23, Rs 5 lakh health cover under Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY with the premium met from the PM CARES Fund, and support in obtaining education loans for professional and higher courses with the interest borne by the fund.

Scholarship for PM CARES Children sits inside that package as the school-years component, and is the part administered by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. A family dealing with a single child therefore interacts with one district office and one portal even though two ministries are involved.

Common reasons the scholarship is not credited

• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT transfer fails at the bank.
• Name mismatch between the child's Aadhaar and the bank record.
• School bonafide certificate not submitted for the current academic year.
• Enrolment record incomplete at the district level, for example the District Magistrate's verification is pending.
• Child has completed Class 12, at which point this component ends by design.

Help and grievance redressal

• Scheme and guideline queries: 011-23381970
• Portal and technical support: 011-23388074 or pmcares-children.wcd@nic.in
• District level: District Magistrate, District Child Protection Unit or the Child Welfare Committee that produced the child's case
• Child Helpline: 1098, available round the clock

Neither ministry charges a fee for this scholarship, and no official will ask a guardian for an OTP or a payment to release the amount.