Now get a stamp of education on your love for collecting stamps

In an effort to encourage the interest of school children in philately, the Ministry of Communications on Friday launched a pan India scholarship programme.

"Every year we organise stamp design contest on the eve Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru birth anniversary to encourage interest of children in philately. Now the Department of Posts has decided to do something more. We will now grant Deen Dayal SPARSH scholarship as reward to select students having interest in philately," Union Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said while launching the new scheme.

According to the minister, under the scholarship programme, which is named as Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana, over 920 schoolchildren would be awarded Rs. 500 per month for a year by the Department of Post (DoP).

"Under the scheme of SPARSH (scholarship for the promotion of aptitude and research in stamps as a hobby), it is proposed to award annual scholarships to children of standard VI to IX having good academic record and also pursuing Philately as a hobby through a competitive selection process in all postal circles," Sinha said.

"Students with 60 per cent marks or equivalent grade/grade point in their academics would be eligible for the scholarship. There will be 5 per cent relaxation for SC/ST students," the minister said.

Talking about the process of the scholarship, the minister said, "Every postal circle will select a maximum of 40 scholarships representing 10 students each from standard VI, VII, VIII & IX. The amount of scholarship will be Rs. 6,000 per annum."

The minister further said that to avail the scholarship, a child must be a student of a recognised school and the concerned school should have a Philately Club and the candidate should be a member of the Club.

The DoP will launch advertisement for the scheme soon and reach out to schools for nominations. The scholarship will be granted to students from November 14, 2018 onwards.

Philately is the hobby of collection and study of postage stamps. It also entails the collection, appreciation and research activities on stamps and other related philatelic products.

The hobby of collecting stamps includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organising, cataloguing, displaying, storing, and maintaining the stamps or related products on thematic areas.

Stamp collection also teaches a lot about the socio-economic-political reality of the period in which the stamp is issued or the theme on which it is issued.

Here are the highlights of the scheme:

– The government has proposed to award 920 scholarships to students pursuing Philately as a hobby.

– Every Postal Circle will select a maximum of 40 scholarships representing 10 students each from standard VI, VII, VIII & IX.

– The amount of scholarship will be Rs. 6,000 per annum.

– At the time of selection for award scholarship, the candidate must have scored at least 60 per cent marks or equivalent grade/grade point in the recent final examination.

– There will be 5 per cent relaxation for SC/ST.

– To avail the scholarship, a child must be a student of a recognised school within India and the concerned school should have a Philately Club. The concerned student should be a member of the Club.

– In the case of school Philately Club not being established, a student having his own Philately Deposit Account will also be considered.

– Selections under the scheme would be on the basis of evaluation of project work on Philately and performance in Philately Quiz conducted by the Circles.

– Selections to the scholarship would be for one year and there would be no bar on an already selected student applying for the scholarship next year provided he/she fulfils other criteria.

If you are a Philately enthusiast, gather more information at https://www.epostoffice.gov.in/philately_3d.html

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