Education: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has distributed student scholarships worth Rs 116 crore to students studying in classes 9 to 12 in government and government-aided school. These scholarships have been distributed under the Namo Laxmi and Namo Saraswati Vigyan Sadhana schemes. The announcement of these scholarships was made in an event held in Gandhinagar and attended by Gujarat’s Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Education Minister Kuber Dindor, Minister of State for Education Praful Pansheriya, and other prominent ministers and officials.

What is Namo Laxmi Scheme?

The Namo Laxmi Scheme is a scheme that offers financial support to female students studying in Secondary and Higher Secondary classes. The main objective of this scheme is to empower female students in Gujarat and reduce the dropout rates of girls. 

With the help of this scheme, the female students will receive Rs 500 per month for 10 months in classes 9 and 10. An additional amount of Rs 10,000 will be given after passing the class 10th board exam. 

In classes 11 and 12, the students will get Rs 750 per month for 10 months. The amount of Rs 15,000 will be given after clearing the class 12th board exam. As a part of this scholarship scheme, female students can receive up to Rs 50,000 for four years to support their education from classes 9 to 12.

What is Namo Saraswati Vigyan Sadhana Scheme?

The main objective of this scholarship scheme is to encourage and motivate students to pursue a science stream after passing class 10th. With the help of this scheme, the government will provide Rs 1,000 per month to over 2,50,000 students of classes 11th and 12th. Initially, the students will get Rs 10,000/- while studying in Class 11th. Similarly, Rs 10,000/- will be provided to eligible students while studying in Class 12th. After passing the class 12th board exam, the remaining amount of Rs 5,000/- will be provided to the students.

Since the launch of both scholarship schemes, an increase has been observed in the enrolment process. According to the official data, approximately a six per cent increase has been seen in enrollments of female students in classes 9 to 12 from the academic year 2023-2024 to 2024-2025. Similarly, the scholarship scheme programme has led to approximately a 10 per cent increase in the percentage of students opting for science streams in classes 11 to 12.