Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for BC, MBC and DNC Students (Tamil Nadu)

What is the Tamil Nadu Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme?

The Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme is run by the Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, through the Department of Backward Classes Welfare and its District Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Offices.

The scheme has a narrow and specific purpose that is easy to misread. In Tamil Nadu's government and government-aided schools, no fee; tuition, special or examination: is collected from students studying in Tamil medium. Students in the same schools who study in English medium do pay a tuition fee and an examination fee. This scholarship exists to reimburse those fees for students from Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities, so that medium of instruction does not become a cost barrier.

The rates, as published by the Department of Backward Classes Welfare:

Separately, the examination fee for 10th standard students is reimbursed to the Director of Government Examinations, and examination fees are also reimbursed for students in Classes 11 and 12 studying in a medium other than Tamil.

The amounts are small in absolute terms. What matters is that they cover the actual fee charged, so an eligible family pays nothing. The scheme is a fee waiver delivered as a reimbursement, not a stipend intended to meet living costs.

Who is eligible, and who cannot apply?

You are eligible if:

• You belong to a Backward Class (BC), Most Backward Class (MBC) or Denotified Community (DNC) recognised in Tamil Nadu, evidenced by a community certificate.
• You are studying in 6th to 10th standard.
• You are studying in English medium.
• Your school is a government or government-aided school in Tamil Nadu.
• For BC students only, your parental annual income does not exceed Rs 2.50 lakh. The department records no income condition for MBC and DNC students.

You are not eligible, or cannot apply, if:

• You study in Tamil medium in a government or government-aided school. You are not worse off — no fee is collected from you in the first place, so there is nothing to reimburse.
• You study in a fully private, unaided school. The scheme is limited to government and government-aided institutions.
• You belong to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. SC and ST students are covered by the parallel scholarship schemes of the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, not by this one.
• You are a BC student whose parental income exceeds Rs 2.50 lakh.
• You are below Class 6 or above Class 10 and are looking for the tuition fee component. Only the examination fee element extends to Classes 11 and 12 for non-Tamil-medium students.

How to apply for the Pre-Matric Scholarship

1. Ask your school head at the start of the academic year for the pre-matric scholarship application. Schools collect these applications; individual students do not normally file them directly at the district office.
2. Obtain a community certificate from the Tahsildar, through an e-Sevai centre or the Tamil Nadu e-District portal, if you do not already hold one. It is the document the whole claim rests on.
3. Obtain an income certificate if you are a BC student, showing parental annual income within the Rs 2.50 lakh ceiling. MBC and DNC students do not need to satisfy an income test.
4. Submit the completed form with the community certificate, income certificate, bonafide certificate, Aadhaar and, where asked, a bank passbook copy, to the school head.
5. Let the school forward the consolidated list to the District Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Officer at the district collectorate, who sanctions the claim.
6. Check the fee adjustment. In most schools the fee is simply not collected or is adjusted, and the department settles it. For Class 10, the examination fee is reimbursed to the Directorate of Government Examinations.
7. Follow up at the district office if the school has not forwarded your name by the second term.

What documents are required?

What else the same department offers alongside this

The District Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Offices administer a wider set of education benefits that a family applying for the pre-matric scholarship should ask about in the same visit:

• Post-matric scholarships for BC, MBC and DNC students in higher education, covering compulsory non-refundable fees.
• Hostels run by the department for BC, MBC and DNC students, with free boarding and lodging.
• PM-YASASVI, a Government of India scheme under which girl students in Classes 9 and 10 receive an annual scholarship of Rs 4,000 credited directly to their bank accounts.
• Free coaching schemes for competitive examinations.

Because these are separate sanctions with separate forms, applying for the pre-matric scholarship does not automatically enrol a student in any of them.

How to check the status of your scholarship

Tamil Nadu does not publish a public online tracker for this particular scholarship. The reliable route is:

1. Ask the school head whether your name was included in the list forwarded to the district office, and on what date.
2. Ask the District Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Officer at the district collectorate campus whether the claim has been sanctioned for the academic year.
3. If the fee has been collected from you and not refunded, raise it in writing with the district officer, attaching the fee receipt.

Why claims get rejected

• No community certificate, or a certificate showing a community outside the BC, MBC and DNC lists.
• Income above Rs 2.50 lakh for a BC applicant.
• Wrong type of school. Private unaided schools are outside the scheme.
• Wrong medium recorded. The bonafide certificate must state English medium; an error here is the commonest fixable rejection.
• Application not forwarded by the school in time for the sanction cycle.
• Duplicate claim where the student is already covered by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department's SC/ST scholarship.

Where to raise a grievance

• School head or headmaster, first, since the school is the collection point.
• District Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Officer, at the district collectorate campus. The sanctioning authority named by the department.
• Department of Backward Classes Welfare, bcw.tn.gov.in, for scheme rules and contact details.
• Tamil Nadu e-Sevai grievance portal, for a written petition that carries a reference number and must be replied to.

The scholarship is free to apply for. No agent is needed to obtain a community or income certificate, both are issued through e-Sevai centres and the Tahsildar's office at notified government fees.