NMMS – Know All About National Means-Cum-Merit Scholarship

NMMS – National Means-Cum-Merit Scholarship is a Centrally sponsored scholarship scheme. It is implemented by the Department of School Education & Literacy under the Ministry of Human Resource Development with the objective to financially support the meritorious students of economically weaker sections of the society. NMMS encourages disadvantaged students to continue their studies at the secondary level by offering a scholarship amount of INR 12,000 per annum. Every year, this MCM scholarship is made active during the month of November and almost 100,000 scholarships are disbursed among bright students.

Find below the highlights of NMMS (National Means-Cum-Merit Scholarship).

Highlights of NMMS

S.No.	Particular	Detail
1.	Objective	To arrest the dropout rate of students at Class 8 and encourage them to continue their education at the secondary level
2.	Award	INR 12,000 per annum
3.	Eligibility	Regular students of class 9 with a score of 55% marks in class 8 final exam
4.	Application period*	July-November
5.	Application process	Through the official government portal NSP

* The application period mentioned above is tentative and subject to change as per the discretion of the scholarship provider

Now, read below the complete details of NMMS and avail the scholarship benefits.

NMMS – Objective

Initiated in May 2008, NMMS Scholarship aims to motivate bright and disadvantaged students to complete their secondary and higher secondary level of education so as to improve the dropout rate from schools after class 8. Every year, students of class 9 to 12 appear for two levels of selection tests at the state level to avail the benefits of National Means-Cum-Merit Scholarship.

NMMS – Award

NMMS disburses a total of 100,000 scholarships every year at the rate of INR 12,000 per annum, i.e. INR 1,000 per month, to the selected students. Under National Means-Cum-Merit Scholarship, the scholarship amount is paid by the State bank of India (SBI) on one go. The amount is directly transferred into the students’ accounts through Public Financial Management System (PFMS). The number of scholarships allocated to each State and UT is done on the basis of students’ enrolment in class 7 & 8 and their population in the respective states. The details of the NMMS amount are highlighted below.

• The students of class 9 receive a scholarship amount on one go, i.e. INR 12,000 per annum, for an academic year.
• The scholarship is renewed every year till the student completes his/her Higher Secondary level of education (Class 12), provided the candidate gets clear promotion into higher class every year.

NMMS – Important Dates

This MCM 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.

NMMS – Eligibility Criteria

Applicable only for the meritorious and needy students of India, this MCM 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 9 after getting clear promotion from class 8 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 1.5 Lakh.
• Also, those students who are enrolled in NVS, KVS, Sainik schools and private schools are not eligible for this MCM scholarship.

NMMS – Application Process

If you wish to apply for NMMS, you must make sure that you fulfil all the eligibility conditions for this MCM scholarship. Then, the applicants can apply online for the scholarship through NSP. Given below is the step by step application guideline to help students complete their NMMS scholarship form without any difficulty.

• First, the applicants need to register on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) as a new user by filling all the correct information.
• The candidates who are applying for the scholarship are advised to keep the scanned copies of all the relevant documents with them while beginning the application process.
• Information like educational qualifications, Aadhaar card number, school enrolment number, bank details and the state domicile are required to be filled by the applying candidate.
• An application ID of the candidate is generated upon registering on NSP. This application ID is used as ‘Login ID’ on NSP and for future references.
• The applicant who is studying class 9 and 10 needs to apply under the Pre-Matric scholarship category whereas the candidate who is studying in class 11 and 12 needs to apply under Post Matric scholarship category.
• The applicant must be careful while filling details like applicant’s name, date of birth, email ID, identification details and mobile number.
• Upload all the necessary documents and save the details as a draft.
• After making sure that all filled-in information is correct and appropriate, the candidate needs to finally submit the completed application form.

NMMS – Selection Criteria

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.

Selection Criteria of NMMS

S.No.	Particulars	Details
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 the analogy, classification, numerical series, pattern perception, hidden figures, etc.
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.

NMMS – Declaration of Results

Once the students have appeared for the selection test, each State declares the list of students who have qualified the MAT and SAT with at least 40% marks in each test. Find below the conditions which are considered while selecting the final list of students for NMMS.

• As per the rules, the applicants must score at least 40% marks in each of the tests, i.e., MAT and SAT. However, there’s a relaxation of marks for reserved categories. The cutoff marks for them to avail the scholarship benefit of this MCM scholarship is 32%.
• Also, the applicants must have scored at least 55% marks in the final exam of class 8. There is a relaxation of 5% marks for SC/ST category students.
• The candidates must satisfy all the eligibility conditions in order to avail the benefits of NMMS.

NMMS – FAQs

✔️ How can a student get NMMS scholarship?

In order to avail benefits under the NMMS scheme, a student should be a regular student of Class 9. He/she should obtain at least 55% marks or equivalent grades in Class 8 examination. Furthermore, to continue receiving the scholarship in Class 11, the students must score at least 60% marks in Class 10. However, to continue receiving the scholarship in Class 12, the students must pass Class 11 in the first attempt with at least 55% marks or equivalent grades.

✔️ How can a student apply for NMMS scheme?

The students who fulfil the eligibility conditions for NMMS scheme can apply for it online through the National Scholarship Portal. The students are required to register on the portal and continue with the application process after logging in to the user dashboard.

✔️ How can a student check the result of NMMS exam?

The NMMS results for the selection test are declared by each state separately. The list of students selected is released after assessing the scores obtained by them. The students who have scored at least 40% in each test (MAT and SAT) will be selected for the scholarship.

✔️ What is the full form of NMMS exam?

The term NMMS refers to National Means cum Merit Scholarship examination. It is conducted every year by the Department of School Education & Literacy under the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

✔️ What is the pattern for NMMS examination?

The NMMS examination is conducted in two sections namely MAT (Mental Ability Test) and SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test). While the MAT examines the reasoning ability of a student, the SAT examines the subject knowledge of the students. The duration of the each test is 90 minutes in which the students have to attempt 90 multiple-choice questions.

✔️ What is the passing marks for NMMS examination?

The qualifying marks to pass the NMMS examination is 40% in each MAT and SAT examination.

If you are looking for more scholarships like NMMS, read ‘NTSE – National Talent Search Examination’.

Also, read ‘Means Scholarship – All You Need to Know’ to know about those scholarships that can be availed by underprivileged and disadvantaged students of the society.