– Ronita Torcato

Notice boards conveying information about government scholarships for students should be  prominently displayed in all schools, Maharashtra’s  school education minister Dadaji Bhuse said at a  meeting held at the ministry in Mumbai.

The meeting was attended by principal secretary of the school education department Ranjit Singh Deol, education commissioner Sachindra Pratap Singh, chairman of the Maharashtra State Examination Board Nandkumar Bedse, director of education (NCERT) Hemant Vasekar, director of education (secondary) Mahesh Palkar, director of education (primary) Sharad Gosavi and deputy secretary Tushar Mahajan among others.

Citing by way of example, one of the schemes, minister Bhuse said  the Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule Child Care Scheme, provides Rs. 2,250 every month  to students who are orphans or have single or  disabled parents or have been  victims under the POCSO Act.

Committees  appointed by the Women and Child Welfare Department should search for such children, the minister said.

Government scholarships can be primarily accessed through the MahaDBT portal which covers merit-based, need-based, and category-specific (SC/ST/OBC/VJNT or Vimukta Jatis & Nomadic Tribes) options.

Students can visit https://mahadbt.maharashtra.gov.in/Home/Index and navigate  “All Schemes”.

For most schemes, the application period closes around March 31, 2026, for the academic year.

Maharashtra has over 1.45 crore students enrolled in 1.04 lakh primary schools, plus another 63.6 lakh students in 29,641 secondary and higher secondary schools. Girls make up 47.8% of the enrollment.

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