Post-Matric Scholarship for Students Belonging to the Minority Communities

This is a central scholarship run by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. It was meant for students from the six notified minority communities whose families have low incomes, so they could continue their studies after Class 10. The objective was to help meritorious students from economically weaker sections of minority communities reach higher education and improve their employability. It is not open to new students for 2026-27.

A 2026 reply to Parliament said the scheme was not approved for continuation beyond the 2021-22 academic year. No fresh scholarships have been awarded since then, although renewal payments for 2022-23 were released under the existing guidelines. If you are a Karnataka student, the state may run its own minority scholarships. This page could not confirm their 2026-27 terms from an official Karnataka source, so check with the Karnataka minority welfare department before you rely on any amount or date.

What you got under the scheme

The scheme paid actual admission and tuition fees, and a maintenance allowance, up to a maximum ceiling set for each item. The scholarship covered the whole course, but maintenance was paid for no more than 10 months in an academic year. A scholarship was not given beyond the normal time taken to complete a certificate, degree, M.Phil or doctorate.

The rates below come from the scheme guidelines. The copy I could read carries no session date, so these are not 2026-27 figures.

Hostellers include students who stay as paying guests or in rented accommodation in towns where their parents do not live. Students living at home with their parents are day scholars.

Who could apply

• Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians (Parsis) are the notified communities.
• Family income from all sources had to be Rs. 2.00 lakh a year or less.
• Marks had to be at least 50%, or an equivalent grade, in the previous final examination.
• The course had to be in India, at a government or eligible private school, college or university, or at an ITI for Class XI and XII courses.
• No more than two students from one family could receive the scholarship.
• Who could not: a student who got a scholarship for the same purpose from a state government or UT could not take this one, and a student who moved to another institution during the year was normally not allowed to continue.
• The guidelines do not set an age limit.

How to apply

No fresh application is open for 2026-27. The scheme ran through the National Scholarship Portal, and the guidelines required students to apply online at scholarships.gov.in. Renewal is covered in the section below.

Documents you need

The guidelines list these documents for fresh and renewal applications. All of them were mandatory except the Aadhaar card, which was optional.

• A student photo
• An institution verification form
• A self declaration of income by the student
• A self declaration of community by the student
• A self-attested copy of the previous academic mark sheet (fresh) or the previous year’s mark sheet (renewal)
• The fee receipt for the current course year
• Proof of a bank account in the student’s name
• A residential certificate
• An Aadhaar card (optional)

How students are selected

The number of scholarships for minorities is fixed and small, so students from BPL families with the lowest income were given preference. Thirty per cent of awards were set aside for girls, and unused girls’ awards could go to eligible boys.

Renewal

Renewal applications were settled before new applications were considered. A scholarship could be renewed in the next academic year on proof that the student had secured 50% marks in the examination. The award was discontinued if a student fell below 50% in the previous final examination.

Important dates

There is no 2026-27 application cycle. No new beneficiaries have been admitted under the three minority scholarship schemes since the 2022-23 academic year, although students already covered continued to receive their remaining payments.