E-Paper
10,958 students appear for scholarship, talent search exam in Ludhiana district
A total of 13,493 students had registered for both the examinations aimed at providing scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections
: As many as 10,958 students appeared for National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMS) and Punjab State Talent Search Exam (PSTSE) for Class 8 and 10 students held at 48 centres in the district on Sunday.
A total of 13,493 students had registered for both the examinations aimed at providing scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections.
The PSTSE exam for class 10 students, conducted by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), was held for 2021 and 2022 sessions. The exam for the 2021 session was not held last year.
Out of 4,432 students registered for the exam for the 2022 session, 3,876 were present while for the 2021 session, only 2,430 out of the 4,045 registered candidates appeared.
Those students who qualify for the exam by scoring at least 40 percent marks receive a monthly stipend from the state government. The examination consists of two sections - Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Mental Aptitude test (MAT).
Under PSTSE, 500 highest scoring students of separate examinations of classes 8 and 10 receive an annual stipend of ₹2,400, Class 8 students are eligible to get the stipend for a maximum of four years, while Class 10 students can avail the same for two years.
In the joint exam of PSTSE and NMMS of the Class 8 students, 4,652 pupils appeared out of the 5,016 registered candidates. Under the NMMS scheme, the Union government provides ₹12,000 scholarships to as many as 100,000 students across the country. The shares of each state have been fixed in accordance with the number of students in classes 7 and 8.
Recently, the government increased the parental income ceiling from ₹1.50 lakh per annum to ₹3.50 lakh per annum.
Rajinder Singh, district coordinator and principal of government senior secondary school Samrala said that special classes for the students with a minimum of 55 percent marks in the previous class were held to help them in preparation.
Interested students would take separate classes at schools to prepare for SAT and MAT portion of the examination. He added that online classes for students in each block were also held by the principals.
He said that the stipend helps students to fulfill their needs to grow academically and that the test also proves to be helpful for the students aspiring to secure a seat in the residential schools for meritorious students.
