Bengaluru- based NGO provides free training for NMMS candidates

Working with the objective of reducing the dropout rates of class VIII students by providing free NMMS training

Huda khan | NT

Bengaluru: The National Means Cum Merit Scholarship (NMMS) exam that was supposed to be held this month has been postponed to 22nd January, 2023. The exam is sponsored by the government of India and was designed to reduce the dropout rate of class VIII Students enrolled in government-aided or locally run schools.

These students belong to families with annual income less than Rs 3, 50,000 and only students who get a clear promotion from class VIII are eligible for it. Youth for Seva (YFS), a Bangalore based non- profit organization (NGO) has been closely working with these students and has been providing them free training from July, 2021.

They have worked with around twenty five thousand students in Karnataka out of which around three thousand belong to the city, with about 400 volunteers who are trained to help these students pass the exam. Mamta SN, the lead coordinator for Bangalore’s NMMS educational project said “The dropout rate of students in VIIIth standard has been very high and this project by Youth for Seva was introduced to identify and retain talented students in these schools”.

“We also provide transportation facilities for these students since some of them cannot afford to travel for their training program” she added. Students who clear this exam are given a scholarship of forty eight thousand rupees for four years which amounts to twelve thousand rupees per annum.

The National means Cum Merit Scholarship (NMMS) is the second highest scholarship after The Pre-Matric Scholarship scheme for minorities and ensures financial assistance for students all over India. Apart from Karnataka, Youth for Seva also works with students across the country and has a similar approach with regards to their training programmes and volunteering facilities. They are currently preparing to conduct a training