National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS) It is implemented by the Department of School Education & Literacy under the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The objective of the scheme is to award scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to arrest their drop out at class VIII and encourage them to continue the study at secondary stage.

Scholarship of Rs. 12000/- per annum (Rs.1000/- per month) per student is awarded to selected students every year for study in classes from IX to XII in State Government, Government aided and local body schools. There is quota of scholarships for different states/UTs. Students whose parental income from all sources is not more than Rs. 1,50,000/- are eligible to avail the scholarships.

Applicable only for the meritorious and needy students of India, this NMMS scholarship scheme expects all the applicants to fulfil the eligibility conditions mentioned below in order to be eligible for the selection test conducted to award the scholarship.

• The candidates who wish to apply for this MCM scholarship must be regular students studying in class 8 after getting clear promotion from class 7 with a score of at least 55% or equivalent grades.
• The candidates must be pursuing education from Government/Local Body/Government-aided schools.
• For continuation of scholarship in higher secondary school, the candidate must score at least 60% marks in class 10 board exam.
• For continuing the scholarship in class 12, the scholarship awardee must get clear promotion from class 11 in the first attempt itself with a score of 55% marks or equivalent. For students belonging to SC/ST category, a relaxation of 5% is given in marks.
• The candidates’ annual family income should not be more than INR 3.5 Lakh.
• Also, those students who are enrolled in NVS, KVS, Sainik schools and private schools are not eligible for this NMMS scholarship.

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Particulars	Eligibility conditions
Who can apply?	Students enrolled in class VIII
Minimum qualifying marks in class VIIth	55% (50% for reserved categories)
Annual parental income	It should not be more than Rs. 3,50,000
Requirements for the continuation of scholarship	• Candidates must secure 55% (50% for reserved categories) in each final exam • Candidates must get clear promotion in each final exam of class 9th & 11th.
Who are not eligible to apply?	1. Students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sainik schools 2. Students studying in residential schools run by state government institutions with facilities like boarding, lodging and education 3. Students pursuing their studies in private schools

Important Dates

This NMMS scholarship is generally announced every year during the month of July and its deadline falls in the month of October. This application period is tentative as it varies from year-to-year. It may change the next year as per the discretion of the scholarship provider.

How to Apply for NMMS Scholarship?

If you wish to apply for NMMS, you must make sure that you fulfil all the Eligibility Criteria for this NMMS scholarship. Students can apply online form NMMS through National Scholarship Portal. Students are also informed about the availability of NMMS application forms by the authorities of their schools. The last date to submit the filled online NMMS applications is decided by state nodal officer every year. Students can also download the filled form from the official website or collect the same from their schools.

In the case of offline mode, students have to submit the filled NMMS Application form along with necessary documents to the school in which a student is studying. Candidates whose forms are accepted will be able to collect the admit cards from their respective schools, a few days before the exam. Follow the below instructions to submit the NMMS Application form successfully :

• • Candidates can obtain the NMMS Application form through online mode, and two attested hard copy of the application form with essential documents should be submitted to the respective school. The head of school must forward the applications to nodal schools and retain one copy for school record.
• Candidates could download the NMMS application form of their respective state by clicking on the link below

Documents Required for NMMS Application Form

With the NMMS Application form, students have to attach a few documents. All the documents should be attested by the principal of the school and parents. Check the necessary documents that one should attach with NMMS application form-

• class 7th mark sheet (only from government schools)(compulsory)
• Caste Certificate
• Income Certificate of Parents(compulsory)
• Disability Certificate
• Domicile

Exam Pattern

Though NMMS is a Central Government scholarship scheme, its selection test is conducted by each State/UT for their respective students. These tests include a mental ability test and a scholastic aptitude test whose guidelines are set by the NCERT. The applicants need to complete each test in a maximum time duration of 90 minutes. However, children of special abilities are given some extra time to complete the tests. Given below are the details about this State Level Examination Test.

NMMS Exam Pattern

S.No	Particulars	Particulars
1	Mental Ability Test (MAT)	• This test examines the reasoning abilities and critical thinking of students through 90 multiple-choice questions. Most of the questions may be based on topics like analogy, classification, numerical series, pattern perception, hidden figures.
2	Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)	• SAT consists of 90 multiple-choice questions. • The syllabus of SAT covers the subjects of science, social studies and mathematics as per the syllabus of class 7 and 8.