1. INTRODUCTION:

To address the growing aspiration for education in the minority communities of the state and with a view to providing them more avenues for socio-economic and educational mobility by extending financial support and encouragement to the meritorious students belonging to the minority communities, the State Government has decided to set up the "Aikyashree" – West Bengal State Scholarships for Minority Students in West Bengal to be fully funded from the State budget from the financial year 2019-20 onwards.

2. TYPES OF SCHOLARSHIP:

Three types of scholarships will be provided under this scheme :

• Pre-matric Scholarship (for meritorious students from Class-I to Class-X)
• Post-matric Scholarship (for meritorious students from Class-XI to Ph. D), and
• Merit-cum-Means Scholarships (for pursuing technical & professional courses).

3. OBJECTIVES:

The primary objective of the Pre-matric Scholarship is to encourage the minority communities to send their children to schools and to prevent drop-out.

The Post-matric scholarship intends to encourage students to continue their pursuit of higher education.

The objective of Merit-cum-Means scholarship for professional and technical courses is to support the students to pursue professional / technical studies for consequently increasing their employability potential.

4. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

• A. For Pre-matric Scholarship, and
• B. Post-matric Scholarship
  • (i) Applicant must be a domicile of West Bengal.
  • (ii) Must be studying in a School/ Institution recognized by an educational Board/ Council/ University of the State/ Central Government.
  • (iii) Must have secured not less than 50% marks or equivalent grade in the previous final examination.
  • (iv) The annual family income should not exceed Rs.2 lakh.
  • (v) Students studying in institutes outside West Bengal will not be eligible for pre-matric or post-matric scholarship.
• C. For Merit-cum-Means Scholarship
  • (i) The applicant must be a domicile of West Bengal.
  • (ii) Must have got admission in a technical / professional course.
  • (iii) Must have secured at least 50% marks in the last Higher Secondary/ Graduation examination.
  • (iv) Annual family income of the student should not be more than Rs.2.5 lakh.
  • (v) The students who are residents of West Bengal but pursuing studies in listed institutions located outside West Bengal, as may be notified from time to time by the West Bengal Minorities' Development and Finance Corporation, are also eligible for applying.

5. SELECTION PROCEDURE:

Scholarships will be provided to eligible students in order of merit and subject to the budgetary allocation provided by the State Government. For renewal, the applicant will be eligible for the scholarship if he/she has obtained 50% marks in his/her previous examination.

6. RATES OF SCHOLARSHIPS:

The proposed rates of scholarships are as follows:

7. SANCTION PROCEDURE:

The applications will be received online through a portal designed for this purpose. The applications will be verified by the Nodal Teachers of the respective School.

The selection will be made as per the eligibility criteria and the disbursement will be made through Direct Bank Transfer.

8. NODAL ORGANISATION:

The West Bengal Minorities' Development & Finance Corporation (WBMDFC) will be the Nodal Organization for this scheme.

9. CONDITIONS FOR SCHOLARSHIP:

• The applicant has to submit a certificate regarding family income at the time of application.
• For 'renewal' applicants, the continuance of scholarship will be subject to securing 50% marks in the previous year examination.
• Maintenance allowance will be provided to hostellers and day scholars.
• Students should be regular in attendance, for which the yardstick will be decided by the competent authority of the school.
• If a student violates school discipline or any other terms and conditions of the scholarship, scholarship may be suspended or cancelled. The State Government can also directly cancel the award if duly satisfied of the reasons of violation of these regulations governing the scheme.
• If a student is found to have obtained a scholarship by false statement, his/her scholarship will be cancelled forthwith and the amount of the scholarship paid will be recovered.
• The course/tuition fees and maintenance allowance will be credited to the student's bank account directly under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.