The Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, is inviting fresh and renewal applications for the National Means-Cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS) for the academic year 2026-27. Interested and eligible students can submit their applications through the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) by August 31, 2026.
According to the official schedule, the last date to submit both fresh and renewal applications is August 31, 2026. Candidates are advised not to wait until the last moment to submit their applications.
How to Apply for NMMSS Scholarship 2025-26
Follow the steps below to apply online:
- Visit the official website: scholarships.gov.in.
- On the homepage, look for the registration link and click on it.
- Complete registration and log in using your registered credentials.
- Fill out the application form, upload relevant documents and pay the requisite fee.
- Submit the form and take a printout for future reference.
The NMMSS application verification process will be conducted in two stages. Institute nodal officers (INOs) will complete level-1 (L1) verification by September 15, 2026, while district nodal officers (DNOs) will carry out level-2 (L2) verification by September 30, 2026.
Moreover, students can apply for one merit-based scholarship scheme and one or more welfare-based scholarship schemes simultaneously, for the 2026-27 academic session.
About NMMSS
For the uninitiated, the “National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme” is a Central Sector Scheme launched in 2008 by the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education, Government of India. The objective of the scheme is to award scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to arrest their dropout at class VIII and encourage them to continue their education at the secondary stage.
Under this scheme, it is proposed to award 1,00,000 scholarships to the gifted or meritorious students whose parental income is not more than Rs 3,50,000 per annum from all sources at the time of selection of awardees for scholarship.