The NMMSS Scheme: National Means to Merit Scholarship

The ‘National Means-Merit Scholarship Scheme’ (NMMSS) is a Central Sector Scheme that was introduced in May 2008 to award scholarships to deserving students in classes IX to XII. The scholarship program has been added to the National Scholarship Portal (NSP).

The objective of the NMMSS Scheme

To provide scholarships to deserving students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in order to prevent them from dropping out at the end of class VIII and to encourage them to continue their studies and complete the second stage.

Coverage

The initiative envisions awarding one lakh new scholarships each year to selected students in class IX and continuing/renewing them in classes X to XII for study in State Government, Government-aided, and Local body schools covered by the scheme.

Amount of the Scholarship

An annual fee of Rs. 12000/- per student. With effect from 1st April 2017, the scholarship rate has been increased from Rs. 6000/- to Rs. 12000/- per year.

Eligibility criteria to appear in NMMSS selection test

Students who have a total parental income of less than Rs. 1,50,000/- per annum are eligible to apply for the scholarships.
A student must have attained a minimum of 55% or an equivalent grade in the Class VII examination in order to appear in the scholarship selection test (relaxable by 5 percent for SC and ST students).
The pupil must be enrolled in a government, government-aided, or local body school on a regular basis. Scholarships are not available to students enrolled in NVS, KVS, or residential schools.
Reservations are made in accordance with State Government regulations.

Selection of Fresh Awardee Students

At the class-VIII level, the NMMSS selection test is administered. Each state and university administers its own test to select applicants for the National Means-Merit Scholarship. The State and UT provide adequate publicity for the test. Interested and qualifying students can contact the State Nodal Officer for additional information.

A student who meets the eligibility criteria must pass both the Mental Ability Test (MAT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) administered by NMMSS with a combined score of at least 40% on these two examinations. This cut-off is 32% for SC/ST students.

Selection of Renewal Awardee Students

To maintain the scholarship, grantees must earn a minimum of 55% in Class IX and XI and a minimum of 60% in Class X (5% relaxation for SC/ST applicants). The NMMSS Scheme has been integrated into the National Scholarship Portal (NSP), which was developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) with the objective of streamlining and expediting the distribution of Scholarships across Ministries / Departments with efficiency, transparency, and reliability.

NMMSS Process under the auspices of the NSP:

• To apply for NMMSS, students from different states and UTs must register on NSP after qualifying in the MAT and SAT through NMMSS.
• The prescribed State agencies verify the applications online through the portal.
• The NSP Team submits a final list of qualified candidates, complete in all respects, to the MHRD for sanctioning the scholarship.
• Following that, the Ministry of Human Resource Development allocates funds and distributes them to the State Bank of India (SBI), the Scheme’s implementing bank.
• The SBI distributes scholarships directly to students’ bank accounts via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) via the Public Financial Management System (PFMS).