Students who apply for government scholarships are in for a cleaner, less repetitive process. CBSE has told all its affiliated schools about a revised National Scholarship Portal (NSP) framework that kicks in from the Academic Year 2026-27. The big shift: one student can now hold both a welfare scholarship and a merit scholarship at the same time, and the portal will stop making applicants type the same details over and over.
The board has asked heads of schools to pass the word to eligible students, parents and other stakeholders so nobody misses out.
What the revised NSP framework 2026-27 changes
The update follows a Cabinet Secretariat decision that sorts every government scholarship into two clear buckets. This was done to fix duplicate flagging on the portal, where the same student was sometimes marked twice across departments.
The two categories are:
| Category | Basis | Examples given |
|---|---|---|
| Merit-based Scholarships | Academic performance, ranking, or achievement in a competitive or qualifying exam | National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS), Central Sector Scheme of Scholarships for College and University Students, Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) |
| Welfare-based Scholarships | Support for identified communities, categories or socio-economic groups to ease financial hardship | Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship Schemes for SC, ST, OBC and Minority students |
The rule students will care about most
Earlier, the “One Student, One Scholarship” idea often meant a child getting welfare support could be blocked from a merit award. That’s changing. If a student already drawing a welfare scholarship qualifies for a merit scholarship, the merit one will not be refused. The reverse holds too. A merit-scholarship holder who qualifies for welfare support keeps that door open.
Easier filling and verification
The portal’s workflow has been reworked to cut repeat data entry:
- Details entered in the first application are saved and reused for later ones.
- For a second or third application, students furnish only scheme-specific details and upload the relevant documents.
- If an application is marked defective, students can edit only scheme-specific details. To change general, academic, institute or course details, all submitted applications must first be withdrawn.
During L1 verification, fee components like tuition fee and admission fee updated in the first application are auto-filled in later ones, and the verifying officer (INO) can see all of a student’s applications with their status. Deficiencies get split into two types: those tied to scheme-specific details, and those tied to general or academic details.
At L2 verification, all applications from one student stay visible to every concerned L2 Nodal Officer, so decisions stay consistent across a welfare and a merit application filed by the same person. One caution: if a deficiency relates to general or academic details, every other application from that student is automatically put under the “Red Flag” category.
Schools have been asked to spread this information widely before the 2026-27 cycle so eligible students apply correctly.