Chief Minister Annual State Award for Academic Excellence

What is the Chief Minister Annual State Award for Academic Excellence?

Chief Minister Annual State Award for Academic Excellence is a recognition scheme of the Government of Tripura, administered by the Directorate of Secondary Education under the Department of Education. The award was instituted in 2018 and honours students who top the Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations by giving each of them a tablet computer at a public ceremony, usually presided over by the Chief Minister or the Education Minister.

The award is deliberately structured so that "topper" is not defined only as the single highest scorer in the state. Alongside the overall toppers, separate slots recognise the best-performing girl students, the best performers from the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class and religious-minority communities, and the highest scorer in each individual Class 10 subject. A student who is the best mathematician in the state but ranks twentieth overall is still recognised. At the ceremony held on 26 August 2025, 228 students received tablets.

Key features

• Instituted in 2018, awarded annually.
• The award is a tablet computer, not a cash prize.
• Covers both Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations.
• Recognises overall, gender, social-category and subject-wise toppers.
• Restricted to government, government-aided and Vidyajyoti schools.
• No application: merit lists come from District Education Officers.

Who is eligible for the Chief Minister Annual State Award?

You can be selected if:

• You are a permanent resident of Tripura.
• You appeared for the Class 10 or Class 12 board examination of the Tripura Board of Secondary Education or CBSE from an eligible school in the state.
• You studied at a government school, a government-aided school, or a Vidyajyoti school in Tripura.
• Your marks place you in one of the award categories, the top five overall in your class, the top five girls, the top five in your social category, or the highest scorer in one of the 23 Class 10 subjects.

You are not eligible if:

• You studied at an unaided private school. This is the single largest exclusion and it applies regardless of how high the marks are.
• You appeared from outside Tripura, even if your family is domiciled in the state.
• Your marks fall outside every category slot for the year. The award is a ranked recognition with a fixed number of positions, not an entitlement at a fixed percentage.
• You are a repeater or compartment candidate whose result does not enter the regular merit list for that examination year.

Category slots are additive in one direction only: a student can be counted in the overall list and separately in a subject slot, but the same device is not issued twice to the same student.

What are the award categories?

According to the structure published for the award, the recognised slots are:

The exact totals move year to year, because ties in the board result are accommodated and the Directorate approves the final list. That is why 228 students were awarded in the August 2025 ceremony rather than a fixed round number.

How to get the Chief Minister Annual State Award, the actual process

There is no application form for this award, so the "process" is really a verification sequence that a student should follow rather than an application:

1. Appear for the Class 10 or Class 12 board examination from a government, government-aided or Vidyajyoti school in Tripura, and secure a place in one of the merit categories.
2. Check the board result carefully when it is declared, including the subject-wise marks, since subject-topper awards turn on a single subject score.
3. Confirm with your school head teacher that your name and marks have been forwarded correctly to the District Education Officer (DEO), who compiles the district merit list.
4. Respond to the DEO's verification call with your original marksheet, Aadhaar card and, where a category slot is involved, your caste certificate.
5. Watch for the Directorate of Secondary Education's approved award list and the ceremony notice, published through schools and on schooleducation.tripura.gov.in.
6. Attend the award ceremony with your original board certificate and Aadhaar to receive the tablet.

Because there is no form, a student cannot "miss the deadline". What a student can miss is the DEO's verification call, which is why keeping the mobile number given to the school active through the summer matters.

What documents should a student keep ready?

None of these are submitted in advance. They are produced at verification and at the ceremony.

Why a deserving student's name may be missing

• School type — the school is an unaided private institution and therefore outside the award's scope.
• Roll number or marks entered wrongly in the list the school sent to the DEO. This is the most common and most fixable error.
• Category certificate not on record, so a student who qualifies for an SC, ST, OBC or minority slot is counted only in the general list and misses the cut.
• Name spelling mismatch between the board record and Aadhaar, which stalls verification.
• Result under review or compartment, which keeps the candidate out of the regular merit list for that year.

The correction route is the school first, then the District Education Officer, carrying the original marksheet. Corrections have to be raised before the Directorate approves the final list, so a student who suspects an error should act in the weeks immediately following the result rather than waiting for the ceremony notice.

When is the award given?

Chief Minister Annual State Award for Academic Excellence follows the board result calendar. Tripura Board Class 10 and Class 12 results are declared around May, district merit lists are compiled through the following weeks, and the award ceremony has been held in the second half of the year. The most recent ceremony on record took place on 26 August 2025. Exact dates are announced by the Department of Education a few weeks in advance and circulated to schools.

Where to get help or raise a grievance

• School head teacher or principal, the first stop for any list or marks discrepancy.
• District Education Officer of your district, who compiles and forwards the merit list.
• Directorate of Secondary Education, Government of Tripura; telephone 0381-2323835, website schooleducation.tripura.gov.in.

The award costs nothing. No student or parent is required to pay any fee, submit any form, or engage any agent to be considered for the Chief Minister Annual State Award for Academic Excellence.