To identify and nurture talent at an early stage, the Himachal Pradesh government is implementing HP Swaran Jayanti Middle Merit Scholarship scheme for government schools.

A state government official said under the scheme, scholarships will be provided to meritorious students studying in class 6th, 7th and 8th of government schools.

“The students are selected for the scholarship scheme through a state level examination, which is conducted by the SCERT, Solan, every year.

Under the scheme, Rs 4,000 per month is given to meritorious students of class 6th, Rs 5,000 per month for class 7th and Rs 6,000 per month in class 8th.

A total of 1000 scholarships would be distributed among 12 districts of the state as per quota determined based on an average enrollment of government schools in the state. Five scholarships would be provided to students of Bilaspur, 12 students of Chamba, 5 students of Hamirpur, 14 students of Kangra, one student in Kinnaur, 8 students of Kullu, one student in Lahaul- Spiti, 14 students of Mandi, 7 students of Una, 11 each to in Shimla, Sirmour and Solan districts,” he added.

He stated that to avail the benefit of the scheme for 3 consecutive years, the student must continue to study in the government school without repeating any class.

It would be mandatory for the students to have atleast 75 per cent attendance during the session for which the student is to be awarded the scholarship.

In genuine cases of acute illness or any medical exigency, a condition of 75 per cent attendance will not be applicable, he said.

He further stated that the state government is determined to provide quality education to students of the state and has launched several schemes in the state.

To encourage the students of the state to perform better, the state government is also implementing several scholarship schemes.

With this objective, the state government is implementing Medha Protshan Yojna for getting coaching to meritorious students for preparing themselves to compete in national level competitive examinations after 12th Standard, he added.