Under the ongoing ‘Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Incentive Prize’ scheme, the state government has increased the prize money by 20,000 for the top three students in Class 10 and 12 board exams from the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC) categories.
Now, students who rank first at the state level will get 51,000 instead of 31,000. Those in second place will receive 41,000 instead of 21,000, and third place winners will get 31,000 instead of 11,000.
The incentive will be implemented from 2025-26 as a budget allocation of Rs 53 lakh has been approved. The hike announced by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Bhanuben Babariya states, “With the aim of developing academic competitiveness among the students of Scheduled Castes and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and enabling more students to achieve academic development, the ‘Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Incentive Prize’ scheme has been implemented. The amount of incentive prizes given to the students has been increased, under which the students, who get the first three ranks in the General, Science, Vocational and Post-Basic streams in Class 12 and Class 10 at the state level have been increased by Rs 20,000.”
In addition, the student who comes first at the district level in Class 10 and 12 were previously Rs 6,000, which will now be increased to Rs 15,000. For the second place, it has been increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 11,000 and Rs 9,000 for third. The prize money will be given to students through DBT method.
Only students who appear for board exams at the end of the academic year (March-April) will be eligible for this scheme. Those who take the exams in the middle of the year (October-November) will not be covered. Also, if two or more students get the same top score in Class 10 or 12, all of them will receive the prize.