Best Available School Scheme for SC students 2023, Guidelines under Pre Matric Scholarships

Best Available School Scheme for SC students 2023 and its guidelines under Pre Matric Scholarships. As per GO.Ms.No.52 Government introduce the “Best Available School Scheme” for all SC students from the Academic Year and certain detailed guidelines have been issued for Pre Matric Scholarships to Scheduled Caste Students under the New Scheme Best Available Schools – Non-Residential Scheme from the Academic Year.

Best Available School Scheme Guidelines: The object of the “Best Available Schools – Non-Residential Scheme” is to provide 100% quality education in the District itself, particularly in Rural areas as best Institutions in the District are selected for the purpose.

I. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the scheme is to provide quality education to SC students by enabling them to join in reputed Best Available Schools from Classes I and X.

II. ALLOCATION OF SEATS: Not more than 15% of seats in a class in a school shall be filled by SC candidates under the scheme; out of which 33% seats will be for female candidates.

The number of seats allotted under BAS for SCs in a school shall not exceed 20% of total seats in the school or in any class, therein. Out of allotted candidates to each school, not less than 33% of seats shall be reserved for female students.

Any vacant seats due to drop out of students shall be filled up only with the approval of the District Level Committee by following the procedure of merit etc.

III. SELECTION OF BEST AVAILABLE SCHOOLS: Selection of the school under this scheme will be based on the following criteria: The school should be a reputed educational institution in the district having high standards of education with a high reputation for disciplines and other extracurricular and co-curricular activities. It may be a public school or missionary school or residential or any other school with the best quality education.

It should be a reputed school and recognized by State Board/CBSE/ICSE and shall have a Managing Committee. The school should have registered more than 90% passes and at least 50% first classes in 10th class examination continuously in the preceding (5) years.

The school should have adequate infrastructure including a playground, sports equipment, well-equipped library and computer lab. There shall be no discrimination in any manner between S.Cs and Non-S.Cs.

The school should have an adequate number of the qualified teacher as per the pattern prescribed by the education department CBSE and at least 50% of the teaching staff should be permanent staff working in the institution for more than (3) years.

The proposal for selection of a school on the above criteria shall be considered by the District Level Committee and on finding it suitable for selection, forward it to the State Level Committee along with its recommendation and necessary information about the school and hostel building.

The State Level Committee will be competent to issue the selection orders, which will be valid for 3 years. While doing so, the State Level Committee will consider the recommendation of the District Level Committee but arrive at its own conclusion, not necessarily in accordance with the recommendation of the District Level Committee.

After the expiry of the period of 3 years, the continuation of the school under this scheme will be reviewed in the same manner as any new proposal. The first continuation will be granted by the District Level Committee and second and subsequent continuation will be granted by the State Level Committee.

The District Level Committee / State Level Committee shall invariably get the school inspected before considering the proposal for recognition/renewal and before the annual review of performance.

The schools fulfilling the above norms have to be selected by a District Level Committee & subsequently by a State Level Committee consisting of the following members respectively;

District Level Committee:

1. Collector, Chairman
2. Joint Director/Deputy Director (SW) as Member Convener.
3. District Educational Officer as Member.
4. Convener Principal, A.P.S.W. Residential Schools Society at District level as a member.

State Level Committee:

1. Commissioner/Director, Social Welfare, as Chairman
2. Commissioner/Director, Tribal Welfare, as Member
3. Commissioner/Director, School Education, as Member
4. Commissioner/Director of B.C. Welfare, as Member
5. Secretary, APSWREIS, as Member.

IV. SELECTION OF STUDENTS:

1. The selection of the students shall be at Class I level.
2. A notification shall be issued in two Newspapers, one English and one Telugu in April/May of the year calling for applications from eligible SC Students.
3. 50% of seats may be allotted to the children of Agricultural Labourers and those from families of first-generation literacy. Rest of 50% seats may be allotted to

a) Orphan children @ 20% b) Jogin children @ 15% and c) Children of Bonded Labourers @ 15%. If a sufficient number of children are not available in any category, the same may be converted to other categories during that year only. The application for scholarship shall be made on the format given in the notification.

Only one child from one family shall be eligible for admission. The annual income of the family should not exceed Rs.65,000/- per annum in rural areas and Rs.75,000/- per annum in urban areas. The admission of students under the Best Available School scheme is restricted only to the district to which the applicant originally belongs.

If a student selected by a Committee is found at a subsequent date, having furnished wrong information, regarding caste & income then he or she will be disqualified and debarred from the school forthwith. Apart from the prosecution of the parent/guardian the amount spent on the student will be recovered from the parents and an undertaken shall be obtained from him to this effect. Adoption deeds shall not be considered if the natural parent/parents of the candidate are alive.

The following document shall be submitted by the candidates at the time of admission:

• Caste Certificate
• Income Certificate
• Date of Birth certificate.
• Aadhar card.
• Photo.

1. Wide publicity shall be given about the scheme to enable eligible SC candidates to apply for admission into Hyderabad Public School.
2. Nativity Certificate: The child should be native of the district. Nativity Certificate shall be produced at the time of selection to the District Officer.
3. (a)Date of Birth Certificate should be obtained from any of the following & submitted in original.

i. Municipal Corporation. ii. Municipal Board or iii. MRO/Tahsildar.
(b) The child should be between 5 and 6 years for age at the time of admission.
Caste Certificate in original shall be produced at the time of selection, and it should be obtained through Meeseva.
Income Certificate in original has to be submitted at the time of selection, which is being issued through Meeseva.

They should produce the Ration Card wherever available.
Aadhar Card (either Enrolment ID Number (EID) or Unique Identification Number (UID) should be produced
On selection for admission into HPS, the Social Welfare Department will cause verification of Social status of the parent.

The Joint Director/Deputy Director (SW) shall verify the Income, Caste, Age and other criteria mentioned above carefully, before finalizing the list of children to be selected for the draw.

Venue for drawal of lots: On the notified date, the selection of candidates shall be done by drawal of lots by the District Level Selection Committee at the notified public place. The notified public place could be Collectors Conference Hall/ Ambedkar Bhavan/ Zilla Parishad Hall or any other place found to be convenient and centrally located to the participating public to do the drawal of lots before the People’s Representatives/SC Welfare Association Members/Parents etc.,

Drawal of lots: Drawal of lots shall be done in a manner which is open and transparent on the date notified by the District Collectors. Drawal of lots shall be done in the presence of People’s Representatives, parents etc., and SC Welfare Association Members by the District Level Selection Committee chaired by JC/Addl. JC, as decided by the District Collector.

V. PROCEDURE OF DRAWAL OF LOTS:

Under the guidance of the Chairman, District Level Selection Committee, the Convener shall prepare name slips along with the Serial Number, Name of the candidate, address and preference of schools given by the applicant. Utmost care shall be taken to prepare the name slips in similar size paper etc.,

All the name slips shall be jumbled and placed in a box and 120 slips shall be drawn. i.e., 100 in the final list and 20 shall be in the waiting list. After the completion of the drawal of lots, the list of selected students shall be prepared and displayed on the notice board duly signed by the District Level Selection Committee members.

No changes or mutual change of selected candidates shall be permitted. The selection of the candidates by drawal of lots is final.

Time Frame: The entire process of issue of notification, collection of applications, drawal of lots and display of the list of selected candidates shall be completed in a time bound manner as per the schedule and communicated by the Commissioner of Social Welfare, A.P., Hyderabad.

The allotment of the institution to the selected students shall be made as per the preference indicated by the parents/guardians, basing on merit and number of seats allotted to the institution. The number of seats allotted to the District shall be equally allotted to the Best Available selected schools as far as possible.

Transfer of the student from one school to another within the district shall not be permitted. However, the request of the parents, in exceptional cases, the District Level Committee will be competent to permit if there is no extra financial commitment involved and if proper justification exists. Where extra financial commitment is involved, it shall be done only after the approval of the Commissioner of Social Welfare, AP, Hyderabad. 

VI. SANCTION OF SCHOLARSHIP:

Sanction of scholarships to the students under this scheme shall be as follows:
(a) The amount of scholarship payable for a student will be decided by the District Level Committee. However, the scholarship shall not exceed Rs.20,000/- per annum in any case. The scholarship rate fixed by District Level Committee is to be informed to Commissioner of Social Welfare.

(b) The amount of scholarship will include the charges payable towards tuition, extra-curricular activities, uniform, textbooks, notebooks, etc. (c) The amount of scholarship payable in case of a student-selected under the scheme shall not be more than that charged by the school to non-SC students.

(d) Textbooks, Note Books, Uniforms and other equipment shall be supplied by the Joint Director (SW) / Deputy Director (SW) of the District after obtaining a requisition from the school. The expenditure incurred by the JD / DD (SW) on such items will be deducted from the Scholarship amount payable to the Best Available School. It should be ensured that the SC student gets the benefits on par with non-SC students of the school so that they do not feel discriminated. (e) The scholarship will be sanctioned on a year to year basis until the student completes X class.

2. Failure in the examination or detention in any class or securing of less than 60% marks in the annual examination will render the student ineligible for scholarship in the next year (except in case of prolonged ill-health) or any other circumstances beyond his control. A register shall be maintained by the DD (SW) to watch the results of the students.

3. In case of shortage in attendance due to prolonged illness (duly certified by a medical officer), the District Collector may allow to continue him in the same class, provided the parent/guardian agrees to meet the expenses. The student becomes eligible for continuation of scholarship from the subsequent year on fulfilling the conditions.

VII. ONLINE SANCTION OF SCHOLARSHIPS:

The names of the selected schools shall be registered in the e-pass portal by the Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) O/o Commissioner of Social Welfare after due selection of schools by the State Level Committee.
2. The names of the selected students shall be registered online after final selection by the District Welfare Officers.

The scholarship amount is payable to the institution online in three equal instalments. The 1st instalment shall be paid soon after the schools re-open i.e. after admission. The second and third instalments shall be paid after 3 months on online submission of monthly attendance and results of the students in the quarterly and half-yearly exams respectively

Scholarships shall be drawn and paid by the Joint Director (SW) / DD (SW) of the district duly following the guidelines prescribed and for any breach of these guidelines (governing sanction and disbursement), the JD (SW) / DD (SW) and the institution shall be held responsible.

VIII. MONITORING AND SUPERVISION:

For effective monitoring and supervision of this scheme, the following procedure prescribed is to be followed:
(a) Monthly attendance particulars of students shall be obtained online by the JD(SW)/DD(SW) of the district and who shall watch the attendance of the students.

(b) The JD / DD (SW) shall visit the schools once in two months every year to ascertain the progress of the students and facilities provided. (c) The Quarterly, Half yearly and Annual results of all the students shall be furnished online by the respective schools in the given service. These results shall be closely monitored by the respective Joint Directors / Deputy Director Social Welfare.

The expenditure under the scheme shall be debited to the following head of account.
“2225-Welfare of SCs, STs and OBCs
01-Welfare of SCs.,
MH-277-Education, GH(11)-Normal State Plan
SH (04) State Scholarships :
340 – Scholarships and Stipends (Plan)
The Commissioner of Social Welfare, A.P., Hyderabad is directed to take necessary action accordingly.