Central Sector Scheme of Free Coaching for SC and OBC Students

Central Sector Scheme of Free Coaching for SC and OBC Students scheme has been revised by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment to provide good quality coaching to the students belongs to SC and OBC categories to prepare them for top competitive examination in India. After revision of the scheme now the centre will fund entire expenditure on coaching and the centre will ask state governments to furnish the proposal of a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 coaching institutes with good records. Earlier, Rs 20,000 was the highest ceiling of coaching fee paid to the coaching institution per candidate which has now been 100% waived off for now. Now the selection of the coaching institutes for Central sector scheme of Free Coaching for SC and OBC students will be coordinated by a selection committee, and the committee will recommend the coaching institutes on the basis of their past performance.

Revision in free Coaching for SC and OBC Students - News

Central sector scheme of Free Coaching for SC and OBC students was first time launched during the 6^th five-year plan of the government of India for SC and OBC students to make them able to qualify the top competition in India. The primary objective of the scheme is to provide coaching of high quality for SC and OBC category students within India.

Competitive Exams considered under Free Coaching Scheme

The following courses are applied for the Central Sector Scheme of Free Coaching for SC and OBC students.

Group A and B examination conducted by the UPSC, the SSC and RRB.
Group A and B examinations conducted by the State Public Service Commissions.
IIT-JEE and JEE Advance.
Professional courses such as Management (CAT), Medical (NEET) and Law (CLAT).
Some other important tests such as SAT, GRE, GMAT and TOEFL.

Eligibility Criteria for Coaching Institutions

The coaching will be selected by a special selection committee which will check the record of the applied coaching institutes. The selection committee will recommend the coaching institutes for selection to the ministry. The ministry will finally select the coaching institution on the basis of the recommendation of the selection committee.

The coaching institutes should have been registered for a minimum period of 3 years under the society’s registration act, and companies act (1860).
The coaching institute must have the well-furnished infrastructure, and the coaching should have minimum 100 enrolled students.

Selection of the Institutions

The coaching will be selected by a special selection committee which will check the record of the applied coaching institutes. The selection committee will recommend the coaching institutes for selection to the ministry. The ministry will finally select the coaching institution by the recommendation of the selection committee.
The state will also furnish a list of 5 to 10 reputed coaching institutes after that special selection committee will evaluate the name of the Institutes.
The reputed and famous institutes having branches in minimum three districts will be given priority for the selection.
The ratio of SC and OBC students in the selected coaching institutes will be 70:30. The ratio can relax the ratio in the case of non-availability of the candidates in a particular category.

Eligibility Criteria and Selection of the Candidates

The coaching institutes will select the SC and OBC candidates for Central sector scheme of Free Coaching for SC and OBC students on the basis of student’s academic qualification and previous records.
The students having a total maximum of Rs 6 lakh per annum family income from all source are eligible to avail the benefit under the scheme.
The selected candidates will have to attend their coaching classes daily. If the candidates are missing their coaching classes without any valid reason for more than 15 days, their benefits of free coaching will be discounted under the rule.

Benefits offered under Free Coaching Scheme

Rs 2500 per month will be paid to each local student for attending the coaching class and similarly, Rs 5000 per month will be paid to outstation students.
The physically disabled students (more than 40% disability) will be eligible to avail special allowance of Rs 2000 per month for reading allowance, helper allowance, escort allowance, etc.
The coaching institute will pay the stipend money to each student through ECS or Cheque on a monthly basis. No cash payments are allowed.

The selected candidates will be provided allowance as under: