The Central Sector Scholarships for the academic year 2024-25, instituted by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, are now open for applications and renewals. College and university students have until October 31 to submit their online applications.

Eligibility
Students in the first year of a regular bachelor’s degree course who have cleared the Class 12 exam of higher secondary or VHSE (vocational higher secondary education) under the state board with scores above the 80th percentile are eligible to apply. This also applies to students from CBSE and ISC schools. In other words, applicants should be within the top 20 percent of scorers.

Applicants must be between 18-25 years of age, and their family’s annual income should not exceed Rs 4.5 lakh. Students enrolled in correspondence, distance education, or diploma courses, as well as those receiving any other scholarships, are not eligible to apply.

How to apply
To register and apply for the scholarships, visit the national portal at www.scholarships.gov.in. After submitting the online application, print it out and submit it to your college along with certificates for income, academic qualifications, caste, and the admission report issued by the principal.

Students who were granted Central Sector Scholarships in previous years can apply for renewal during this period.

Distribution of scholarships
The Central Government will grant 82,000 scholarships nationwide. After allocating a specific number of scholarships to CBSE and ISC students, the remaining scholarships will be distributed among all states, including Kerala, based on the proportion of people in the 18-25 age group in those areas.

In Kerala, an equal number of scholarships will be given to male and female students. Additionally, 15 percent of the scholarships are reserved for Scheduled Caste students, 7.5 percent for Scheduled Tribes, and 27 percent for Backward Castes. Five percent of the scholarships are set aside for differently-abled students.

Selected students will receive the scholarship for up to five years, covering the duration from undergraduate to professional level studies. The scholarships will be divided among the Humanities, Science, and Commerce streams in a 3:3:1 ratio.

Scholarship amount
The annual scholarship amount is Rs 12,000 at the undergraduate level and Rs 20,000 at the postgraduate level. The scholarship must be renewed each year. Renewal is contingent upon maintaining at least 75 percent attendance and 50 percent marks.

Students who fail to renew their scholarships may do so the following year. Applicants must possess an Aadhaar-linked savings account in their name at a public sector or scheduled bank, where the scholarship amount will be directly transferred by the Central Government.

Colleges where students are enrolled must follow all directives regarding the storage of scholarship documents.

Contact information
Complete details regarding the scholarships are available on the national portal at www.scholarships.gov.in and on the ‘Notification’ link at www.dcscholarship.kerala.gov.in, the website of the Collegiate Education Department in Kerala, which is implementing the scheme in the state.

For inquiries, you can contact the following:
Phone: 011-20862360
Email: es3.edu@nic.in
For inquiries in Kerala: 9447096580

Students who cleared Class 12 in CBSE and ISC curriculum can obtain the necessary information from the website or their colleges.