This year, the state government has revised the annual scholarship amounts for over 32,000 standard V and VIII students to Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,500, respectively.
The government allocated 19 crore rupees for the scholarship funds. Up until now, fifth-grade students have been receiving Rs 1,000 per year and eighth-grade students have been receiving Rs 1,500 per year.
Director of Primary Education Mahesh Palkar announced that students will now receive Rs 500 and Rs 750 each month for the next 10 months.
The government notification stated that scholarships were to be distributed to students at varying rates every year until 2022-23. Starting this year, the scholarship rate has been updated. Starting in 2023-24, scholarships are being given to students at a higher frequency.
Palkar announced that 32,667 scholarship qualifiers from the fifth and eighth scholarship examination of the school education department, the most popular among students, parents, and schools in the state, have been distributed at revised rates for Diwali.
The scheme has been in operation in Maharashtra since 1954-55. Initially, it was introduced for students in grade IV and VII, but it was later changed to grade V and VIII in accordance with the government's 2015 decision under the Right to Education Act.
Standard V has a total of 16,683 sets, while standard VIII has 16,258 sets. After the scholarship is awarded based on merit in the examination, the education department will disburse the funds directly to the student's bank account.
