Shillong, Sep 2: Scholarship money under the Umbrella Post-Matric Scholarship for ST students for 2025-26 has been disbursed to 87,691 students across Meghalaya amounting to Rs 91.01 crore.
According to the Education Department, the scholarship was disbursed within three to four working days, from the date of announcement on August 27, through the SNA-SPARSH system which enables direct payment from RBI to students’ accounts.
Every student whose Aadhaar was linked and application verified has been paid, it said. Of 96,812 verified applications, 9,121 could not be paid due to non-linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts or incorrect bank details. The amount has not been cancelled and will be paid once details are corrected in the next cycle.
The department said the total requirement for the year is Rs 198.43 crore. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has released Rs 84.55 crore as Central share and the state Rs 9.40 crore, totalling Rs 93.95 crore. Of this, Rs 91.01 crore has been paid and balance Rs 2.94 crore is under process. The remaining Rs 104.48 crore will be released in coming instalments.
Under the new system, scholarship is paid in five instalments to every eligible student, unlike earlier when only one in five received full amount and rest waited for next central release, it said.
Applications for 2026-27 on the National Scholarship Portal opened on July 3 and will remain open till November 30.
