Prize Schemes to the Students (State Level Prizes)

What is the Prize Schemes to the Students (State Level Prizes)?

Prize Schemes to the Students (State Level Prizes) is an academic excellence award run by the Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department, Government of Tamil Nadu. The scheme pays cash prizes to students from Backward Classes (BC), Most Backward Classes (MBC) and Denotified Communities (DNC) who score the highest marks in the public examinations, on one condition that shapes the whole scheme: the student must have studied Tamil as the first language.

The scheme is unusual among Tamil Nadu welfare schemes in one respect. It carries no family income ceiling at all. A student from a family of any income can win, because the award is for performance rather than for need. That distinguishes it from the department's free education and hostel schemes, all of which turn on an income certificate.

How the scheme is structured

• Prizes are awarded at the state level, across the whole of Tamil Nadu, in addition to the district-level prize schemes the department runs on the same pattern.
• Students from government, government-aided and private schools are all covered.
• Prizes are graded, a first, second and third prize — with separate awards for boys and girls.
• Where two or more students score the same marks, all of them receive the same prize.

How much prize money does the scheme pay?

Prize amounts under this scheme are fixed by government order and revised from time to time, and the department's own notification for the year is the only authoritative source.

Published compilations of the scheme report a graded structure with a first prize of Rs 50,000, a second prize of Rs 30,000 and a third prize of Rs 20,000 for boys in the Backward Class stream, with separate and lower amounts for the corresponding girls' prizes, and parallel sets for the MBC and DNC streams. These figures are reported rather than confirmed against a current government order, so a student or parent should ask the District Backward Classes and Minority Welfare Officer for the operative rates before relying on them.

What is not in doubt is the scale: these are prizes running into tens of thousands of rupees, materially larger than the department's routine scholarship amounts, and enough to make a real difference to a family funding a first year of higher education.

Who is eligible for the state level prizes?

You can be selected if:

• You belong to a Backward Class, Most Backward Class or Denotified Community, with a community certificate issued by the Tahsildar.
• You studied Tamil as your first language in the public examination.
• You are studying in a government, government-aided or private school in Tamil Nadu.
• You secured the highest marks in the state in the relevant examination and stream.
• You are a resident of Tamil Nadu.

You are not eligible if:

• You took a first language other than Tamil. This is the condition that most often surprises high scorers, and it cannot be relaxed.
• You belong to a community outside BC, MBC and DNC. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students are covered by the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department's Awards to Bright Students, and minority students by minority welfare schemes.
• You are not a resident of Tamil Nadu, even if you studied in a Tamil Nadu school.
• Your marks fall below the state-level cut-off for a prize. There is no waiting list and no consolation tier at state level, though district-level prizes may still apply.

How the selection works

1. The Directorate of Government Examinations publishes the public examination results.
2. The Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department identifies the highest scorers within each eligible community, filtered for students who took Tamil as the first language.
3. Separate lists are drawn for boys and girls and for the BC, MBC and DNC streams.
4. Selected students are contacted through their school and the District Backward Classes and Minority Welfare Office.
5. The prize is sanctioned and credited to the student's own bank account, and prizes are often distributed at a public function.

What documents does a selected student need?

How to apply for and claim a state level prize

1. Check with your school headmaster whether your result places you in the eligible band for your community and language stream. Schools are the department's first point of contact for these lists.
2. Obtain a fresh community certificate from the Tahsildar if you do not already hold one, since it will be required immediately once selection is intimated.
3. Open a savings bank account in the student's own name and seed it with Aadhaar. Prize money cannot be credited to a parent's account.
4. Submit the mark sheet, community certificate, school certificate, Aadhaar and bank passbook copy to the District Backward Classes and Minority Welfare Office when the office asks for them, and take a dated acknowledgement.
5. Attend the prize distribution if the district organises one, and follow up on the bank credit afterwards.

Why a prize can be missed or delayed

• First language was not Tamil, which disqualifies the application at the outset.
• Community certificate not produced, or issued in a category outside BC, MBC and DNC.
• Bank account not in the student's own name, or not Aadhaar-seeded, which stalls the credit after sanction.
• Name mismatch between the mark sheet, the community certificate and the bank record; common where the school register carries initials expanded differently.
• Contact details out of date at the school, so the intimation never reaches the student. Keep the school informed of a change of address or phone number after leaving.

Related schemes for the same students

The Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department runs a larger set of student schemes, and a prize winner is often eligible for several at once:

• Free education scholarships for professional degree courses, arts and science degrees and polytechnic diplomas.
• District level prize schemes, run on the same pattern as this state level scheme.
• Hostels for BC, MBC and DNC students in district and taluk headquarters.
• Special coaching and competitive examination support.

Help and grievance redressal

• School headmaster, for the initial intimation and the school certificate.
• District Backward Classes and Minority Welfare Officer, the implementing authority and the office that holds the operative prize rates.
• Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department, bcmbcmw.tn.gov.in, for government orders and revised prize amounts.
• Tahsildar's office, for the community certificate.

No application fee is payable, and no payment may be demanded to include a student in the selection list or to release the prize money.