CM-SATH Scheme (Tripura)

What is the CM-SATH Scheme?

CM-SATH: Chief Minister's Scholarship for Achievers towards Higher Learning, is a merit scholarship of the Government of Tripura run by the Directorate of Secondary Education under the Education (School) Department. Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha formally launched the scheme at Agartala Town Hall on 23 September 2024, according to press release S-1312 of the Directorate of Information and Cultural Affairs. Locally the scheme is written and spoken as "CM SATH" or, in Bengali, "সি এম সাথ", and the word sath also reads in Bengali as "with you". A deliberate pun in the naming.

CM-SATH answers a specific problem: students who do very well in the Tripura Board of Secondary Education examinations but stop studying because the family cannot fund the next stage. The scheme pays a monthly stipend of Rs 5,000 so that a top scorer can continue into higher secondary or into college without a break.

Key features of CM-SATH

• 200 students are covered every year: 100 from the Madhyamik (Class 10) examination and 100 from the Higher Secondary (HS+2) examination.
• The stipend is Rs 5,000 a month, Rs 60,000 a year.
• Madhyamik awardees are supported for two years, Higher Secondary awardees for three years.
• Places are spread across the state, not concentrated in Agartala: 152 from the block level, 12 from Nagar Panchayats, 26 from Municipal Councils and 10 from Agartala Municipal Corporation.
• Selection is made by the District Education Officers of each district.

The state's own costing shows how the scheme builds up as batches overlap. The press release records an expenditure of Rs 1.2 crore in the first year, Rs 2.4 crore in the second year and Rs 3 crore annually from the third year onwards. At 200 students paying Rs 60,000 each, the first-year figure of Rs 1.2 crore matches exactly, which is a useful cross-check on the Rs 5,000 monthly rate.

Who is eligible for CM-SATH?

You can be selected if:

• You are a permanent resident of Tripura, able to produce a PRTC.
• You passed the Madhyamik or Higher Secondary examination of the Tripura Board of Secondary Education.
• You studied in a government school or a government-aided school under the School Education Department of Tripura.
• You are among the top scorers of your own block, Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council or Agartala Municipal Corporation area on the merit order drawn up by the District Education Officer.
• You hold a bank account in your own name that is linked to your Aadhaar.

You are not eligible if:

• You studied in an unaided private school, or in a school not under the School Education Department.
• You appeared under a board other than the Tripura Board of Secondary Education, CBSE, CISCE and other boards are outside the scheme.
• You are not a permanent resident of Tripura and cannot produce a PRTC.
• Your marks fall below the cut-off published for your own administrative unit. Because the 200 seats are allotted unit-wise, the effective cut-off differs sharply between areas. In the 2023 draft list, the marks of selected students ranged from the 490s in Agartala Municipal Corporation schools down to the 340s and 280s in some blocks.
• You have no Aadhaar-linked bank account of your own. A parent's or guardian's account is not accepted, because the stipend is released by Direct Benefit Transfer.

There is no separate income ceiling published for CM-SATH. The scheme is framed as a merit award for students of government and aided schools, and the government-school condition itself does most of the targeting.

How does the CM-SATH selection work?

CM-SATH does not run on self-application. The sequence set out in the Directorate's notification of 1 October 2024 is:

1. The Tripura Board of Secondary Education declares the Madhyamik and Higher Secondary results.
2. Each District Education Officer compiles, from the schools in their district, the merit order of students of government and government-aided schools for every block, Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council and the Agartala Municipal Corporation area.
3. The DEOs verify the compiled list a second time.
4. The Directorate of Secondary Education publishes the draft list of 200 students on schooleducation.tripura.gov.in. The published draft carries the student's name, whether the entry is Secondary or H.S, the marks obtained, the pass-out school and the AMC/MC/NP/Block the seat belongs to.
5. A claim window opens for students who scored more than a published name in their own unit.
6. After the claims are examined, the final list is prepared and the stipend begins. If no claim is received, the draft list becomes final.

How to apply for or claim a place under CM-SATH

Follow these steps if you believe you should be on the list:

1. Open the draft list on the Directorate of Secondary Education website, schooleducation.tripura.gov.in, under the notification for the relevant CM-SATH year. Find the rows for your own block, Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council or AMC and note the lowest marks published for it.
2. Compare your board marks with that figure. You have a claim only if your marks are higher than a name published for your own unit; being a high scorer in a different block does not create a claim.
3. Write an application on plain white paper addressed to the Director, Secondary Education, stating your name, school, board roll, examination (Secondary or Higher Secondary), year and marks obtained.
4. Attach self-attested photocopies of your marksheet, Madhyamik admit card, Aadhaar card, PRTC and the passbook of your own Aadhaar-linked bank account.
5. Submit the application either directly at the office of the Directorate of Secondary Education, Shiksha Bhavan, Office Lane, Agartala, West Tripura, or through your District Education Officer.
6. Submit before the last date printed on the notification. For the 2023 batch the notification fixed 9 October 2024, and stated that no application would be considered after that date.
7. Watch the website for the final list. The Directorate prepares the final list after scrutinising the claims received, and the stipend is released against it.

Students already named in the draft list do not write a claim. They are asked instead to keep the same set of documents ready for verification by their District Education Officer.

What documents does CM-SATH require?

Keep the originals with you. The Directorate asks for photocopies, but the DEO office may ask to see originals at verification.

How is the CM-SATH stipend paid?

CM-SATH is paid as Rs 5,000 per month into the student's own Aadhaar-linked bank account, which is why the passbook photocopy is on the mandatory list. The support runs for a fixed term rather than being renewed by fresh application: two years for a Madhyamik awardee, covering Class 11 and Class 12, and three years for a Higher Secondary awardee, covering a normal three-year degree course. A Madhyamik awardee therefore draws up to Rs 1,20,000 and a Higher Secondary awardee up to Rs 1,80,000 across the full term.

At the launch, two students from each of Tripura's eight districts were handed symbolic cheques of Rs 60,000 by the Chief Minister, representing one year of the stipend.

Why are CM-SATH claims rejected?

• Marks compared against the wrong unit. The commonest error is comparing your marks with a lower score published for a different block. Seats are allotted unit-wise, so only your own block, NP, MC or AMC matters.
• Wrong school category. Students of unaided private schools are outside the scheme, however high the marks.
• Late submission. The notification for the 2023 batch is explicit that no application received after 9 October 2024 would be considered.
• Bank account not in the student's own name, or not seeded with Aadhaar, so the DBT credit cannot be made.
• PRTC not enclosed, leaving permanent residence unproved.
• Documents not self-attested or illegible photocopies of the marksheet and admit card.

Key dates for CM-SATH

• 23 September 2024 — CM-SATH formally launched by Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha at Agartala Town Hall.
• 1 October 2024; Directorate of Secondary Education notification publishing the draft list of 200 students for CM-SATH 2023 and opening the claim window.
• 9 October 2024, last date for claims against the CM-SATH 2023 draft list.

For later batches the Directorate follows the same pattern: the draft list and the claim deadline are announced together, usually within weeks of the board results. Because no standing application window exists, the only reliable way to track the scheme is the notice board of schooleducation.tripura.gov.in.

Where to raise a CM-SATH grievance

• District Education Officer of your district, the first point of contact, since the DEO both compiles and verifies the list.
• Directorate of Secondary Education, Shiksha Bhavan, Office Lane, Agartala, West Tripura 799001, for written representations and for claims filed directly.
• Telephone 0381-2323835 and email directorse09@gmail.com, the contact details published on the Directorate of Secondary Education website.

CM-SATH involves no application fee at any stage. No agent can add a name to the list, because the list is built from board marks by the District Education Officers and published for public objection before it is finalised.

How CM-SATH sits alongside Tripura's other education schemes

CM-SATH was announced together with several other School Education Department initiatives, and readers often confuse them. Super-30 funds coaching for competitive examinations such as NEET and JEE for the top 30 Class X students, with an allocation of Rs 5.3 lakh a year. The Vidyajyoti Scheme, started in 2022, has brought 125 schools under an upgraded standard. Nipun Tripura targets basic skills among Class III students, and the Tripura Science Talent Search Examination and Math Talent Search Examination test Class IX students. Separately, the state has given bicycles to around one lakh girl students who passed Class IX. CM-SATH is distinct from all of these: it is a direct cash stipend, paid monthly, to 200 board toppers a year.