Tuition Fees and Examination Fees to VJNT/SBC Students Studying in High Schools

What is the Tuition Fees and Examination Fees scheme for VJNT and SBC high school students?

Tuition Fees and Examination Fees to VJNT/SBC Students Studying in High Schools is an education-support scheme of the Government of Maharashtra that removes the fee burden from students of Vimukta Jati and Nomadic Tribe (VJNT) and Special Backward Class (SBC) communities studying in recognised high schools. The scheme is run by the Other Backward Bahujan Welfare Department, known in Marathi as the Itar Magas Bahujan Kalyan Vibhag, which handles VJNT, OBC and SBC welfare after being carved out of the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department. Older government resolutions and several listings still attribute the scheme to Social Justice, and both attributions refer to the same benefit.

The stated purpose is plain: to improve the interest of VJNT and SBC students in high school education, and to stop fee demands from being the reason a child leaves school between Standard 8 and Standard 10. Maharashtra runs an almost identical scheme for Scheduled Caste students through the Social Justice Department and a separate one for SBC students at Standard 11 and above, so the scheme a family should use depends on which caste certificate the student holds and which class they are in.

Unlike most scholarships, this benefit never passes through the student's hands. The fees are sanctioned and paid directly to the concerned school, which is why families often do not realise they are being covered by a named scheme at all — they simply find that the fee heads are not charged.

What does the scheme actually pay for?

The scheme covers the following heads in full for an eligible student in a recognised high school:

• Tuition fees
• Examination fees
• Library fee
• Laboratory fee
• Playground fee

There is no single rupee ceiling published, because the amount is whatever the approved fee structure of that recognised high school charges under these heads. For a student in a Zilla Parishad or aided high school, that is typically a few hundred rupees a year; for an aided school with laboratory and library heads it is higher. The important point for a parent is that these are the heads that otherwise get demanded at admission and again before the board examination form is filled.

What the scheme does not cover is equally important. Uniform, textbooks, notebooks, travel, hostel charges and private tuition are outside its scope. Students who need maintenance support should look separately at the department's hostel and maintenance-allowance schemes, and students in Standard 11 and 12 should look at the Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj merit scholarship and the post-matric schemes.

Who is eligible for this fee concession?

A student can claim the concession if:

• The student belongs to a notified Vimukta Jati, Nomadic Tribe or Special Backward Class community of Maharashtra and holds a valid caste certificate.
• The student is enrolled in a recognised high school. Recognition by the state education authorities is the test; an unrecognised private school does not qualify.
• The student is a resident of Maharashtra.
• The student is not already receiving another scholarship or fee concession for the same academic year.

A student cannot apply or is not eligible if:

• The student belongs to a category outside VJNT and SBC. Scheduled Caste students are covered by the Social Justice Department's parallel fee scheme, and Scheduled Tribe students by the Tribal Development Department. Applying under the wrong head is the most common reason a name is struck off the list.
• The student is already drawing another scholarship for the same year. The published condition is that students getting the benefit of other scholarships are not eligible, so a family must choose one benefit.
• The student has failed the same class twice. One failure is condoned and the student stays eligible; a second failure in the same class ends eligibility.
• The school is not recognised.
• The student is not a Maharashtra resident.

Two things are deliberately absent from the eligibility list, and they matter. There is no age limit and there is no income limit. A family that has been refused other scholarships on income grounds should still put the child's name in this list.

What documents are required?

Caste certificates are issued by the Tehsildar or Sub-Divisional Officer and are applied for through a Setu centre, a Maha e-Seva Kendra or the Aaple Sarkar portal at aaplesarkar.maharashtra.gov.in. Certificates take time, so a family whose child is entering Standard 8 should start the caste certificate at that point rather than at the time the school circulates the fee-concession form.

How to apply for the VJNT and SBC high school fee concession

The application is offline and routed entirely through the school. There is no separate self-service portal login for this particular pre-matric fee-concession scheme, unlike the post-matric VJNT schemes which run on MahaDBT.

1. Obtain the caste certificate for the student from the Tehsildar's office or through an Aaple Sarkar centre, making sure it names a notified VJNT or SBC community rather than a general backward class.
2. Confirm admission in a recognised high school and ask the office for a bonafide certificate showing the class and division.
3. Ask the Head Master for the fee-concession form for VJNT and SBC students. Schools normally circulate it within a few weeks of admission.
4. Fill the form and attach the caste certificate, bonafide certificate, previous year's marksheet, Aadhaar copy and domicile proof.
5. Submit the completed form to the school office and take a dated acknowledgement or an entry in the school's register.
6. Let the Head Master forward the consolidated proposal to the District Social Welfare Officer at the Zilla Parishad. In Mumbai City the proposal goes to the Assistant Commissioner of Social Welfare instead.
7. Confirm with the school once the sanction arrives that the tuition and examination fee heads have been adjusted against your child's name.

How to check whether the fee concession has been sanctioned

There is no public online status tracker for this scheme, because the applicant of record is the school and not the student. Status is checked in two places:

• The Head Master's office, which holds the consolidated proposal, the dispatch number and the sanction letter when it arrives.
• The District Social Welfare Officer at the Zilla Parishad, quoting the school's proposal dispatch number, if the school says the file has been sent and nothing has come back.

A practical test that costs nothing: at the time the board examination form fee is collected in Standard 10, ask the office whether your child has been shown as a fee-concession case. If the school is charging the examination fee to the family, the name has probably not gone into the proposal.

Why fee-concession claims fail, and how to fix each one

• Caste certificate does not name a notified VJNT or SBC community. A general "backward class" endorsement is not enough. Get a fresh certificate from the Tehsildar naming the community.
• Student is already drawing another scholarship. Withdraw from the other benefit or drop this claim; both cannot run together for the same year.
• Second failure in the same class, which ends eligibility. Nothing can be done except for the student to move up a class.
• School not recognised, in which case no proposal can be sent at all. Transfer to a recognised school is the only route.
• Name missed from the school's consolidated list, usually because the form was handed in after the office compiled the proposal. This is the single most common failure and is fixed by submitting early and taking an acknowledgement.
• Documents attached in the wrong name or spelling, where the caste certificate and the school record show different spellings of the same name. Get the school record corrected before the proposal goes.

Where to complain or get help

• Head Master of the school, the first and most effective contact, because the school both raises and forwards the claim.
• District Social Welfare Officer, Zilla Parishad, for sanction and payment grievances; in Mumbai City, the Assistant Commissioner of Social Welfare.
• Other Backward Bahujan Welfare Department, Government of Maharashtra, at obcbahujankalyan.maharashtra.gov.in, which lists the department's VJNT and SBC schemes and district offices.
• Aaple Sarkar at aaplesarkar.maharashtra.gov.in, and the Maharashtra Chief Minister's helpline on 1800 120 8040, for certificate-related and general state-service grievances.

Nothing in this process costs money. The form is free, the concession is paid to the school, and no agent can charge a family for "getting the fee waived".