Policy Update
Vishvaney Agarwal
Background
The Scholarships for Higher Education for Young Achievers Scheme (SHREYAS) is a Central Sector initiative implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to improve access to higher education among Other Backward Classes (OBC) and economically disadvantaged groups. The scheme consolidates major components such as the Top Class Education Scheme for OBC students and the National Fellowship for OBC students under a broader framework aimed at educational inclusion and mobility.
The scheme seeks to address structural inequalities in higher education by providing financial assistance for tuition fees, living expenses, and academic progression. It specifically targets students enrolled in recognised institutions, including premier institutions such as IITs, IIMs, and central universities, where financial barriers often restrict participation from socially and economically disadvantaged groups.
Despite improvements in participation, disparities continue to persist. According to the AISHE Report 2021–22, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for OBC students stood at 35.8%, compared to the national GER of 28.4%. While this indicates increasing participation in higher education, access to high-quality institutions and long-term academic outcomes remains uneven across social groups.
Between 2021–22 and 2025–26, SHREYAS functioned as part of India’s wider push toward inclusive education under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. However, the central policy question remains whether expanding financial access alone is sufficient to ensure sustained academic mobility and equitable outcomes.
Functioning
SHREYAS operates through multiple components targeting different stages of higher education.
The Top Class Education Scheme supports OBC students admitted to notified premier institutions by covering tuition fees up to prescribed ceilings, living expenses, books, and computer allowances through Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT). The National Fellowship component, implemented through UGC mechanisms, provides financial assistance for postgraduate and doctoral students, including fellowship stipends and contingency grants.
Applications are processed through the National Scholarship Portal (NSP), where students submit applications digitally for verification by institutions, state authorities, and the central government. While this centralised digital structure has improved transparency and reduced leakages in fund transfer, it has also generated administrative delays in verification and disbursement.
The scheme is fully centrally funded and implemented through DBT mechanisms. However, the scale of allocation remains limited relative to the eligible population. For instance, under the National Fellowship for OBC Students, only around 1,000 fellowships are awarded annually despite significantly higher demand for postgraduate and doctoral support.
Monitoring under SHREYAS remains largely administrative, focusing primarily on application processing and fund disbursement. There is limited systematic tracking of long-term indicators such as graduation rates, academic performance, research output, or employment outcomes. As a result, while the scheme facilitates access to higher education, its institutional framework is less equipped to assess whether beneficiaries experience sustained academic and professional mobility.
Performance (2021–22 to 2025–26)
The performance of SHREYAS reflects a broader pattern of expanding educational access without proportional expansion in scale or long-term outcomes.
Under the Top Class Education component, approximately 1,500 OBC students are supported annually across notified premier institutions such as IITs, IIMs, and central universities. Financial support includes tuition fee coverage up to ₹2 lakh per annum along with living expenses and academic allowances. Despite this support, beneficiary coverage remains limited relative to the scale of OBC enrolment in higher education nationally.
Similarly, the National Fellowship component continues to face demand-supply constraints. Although fellowships are awarded annually to support postgraduate and doctoral education, the number of fellowships remains capped at around 1,000 per year. Parliamentary committee observations and PRS reports have repeatedly highlighted that demand for fellowships significantly exceeds available slots, limiting access to advanced academic opportunities for OBC students.
Budgetary allocations for educational empowerment schemes targeting OBC students have remained relatively stable in recent years. According to Union Budget documents and Ministry allocations, funding for OBC educational empowerment schemes stood at approximately ₹1,690 crore in 2021–22, ₹1,720 crore in 2022–23, and ₹1,800 crore in 2023–24. While this reflects continued financial commitment, utilisation efficiency and beneficiary reach remain uneven due to administrative delays and verification bottlenecks.
Table 1: Budget Allocation for OBC Educational Empowerment Schemes
| Financial Year | Allocation (₹ crore) |
| 2021–22 | 1,690 |
| 2022–23 | 1,720 |
| 2023–24 | 1,800 |
Source: Union Budget Documents; Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
Between 2021 and 2025, beneficiary coverage under SHREYAS components increased incrementally through the National Scholarship Portal. However, this expansion remains modest relative to the broader OBC student population, which exceeds 1.5 crore students in higher education nationally.
Overall, the scheme demonstrates that while financial access to higher education has expanded, access remains selective and limited in scale, raising questions about its ability to produce broader structural transformation.
Impact
SHREYAS has contributed to improving access to higher education, particularly for students entering high-cost premier institutions. By covering tuition fees, living expenses, and contingency grants, the scheme has reduced the financial burden associated with higher education for many beneficiaries.
The fellowship component has also contributed to continuity in postgraduate and doctoral education among OBC students by reducing financial barriers associated with advanced academic study. The use of Direct Benefit Transfers has further improved efficiency and reduced leakages in fund distribution.
As of 2023, over 4,000 students had reportedly benefited from the Top Class Education component across multiple admission cycles, while fellowship allocations under the National Fellowship component continued to remain capped despite increasing applications.
However, the scheme’s impact remains uneven and limited in scale. Benefits are concentrated among a relatively small section of eligible students, and there is limited publicly available data on long-term outcomes such as graduation rates, research productivity, employment trajectories, or upward mobility.
More importantly, the scheme does not fully address upstream inequalities in schooling quality, preparatory support, language barriers, and institutional access. As a result, financial assistance alone does not automatically translate into equitable academic success.
This reflects a broader structural limitation within higher education policy: expanding access without addressing systemic inequalities may reproduce uneven outcomes rather than resolve them.
Emerging Issues and Suggestions
A central concern within SHREYAS is that while access has expanded, equitable outcomes remain limited.
One major issue is restricted beneficiary coverage. The annual fellowship cap remains significantly lower than the number of eligible applicants, limiting access to postgraduate and doctoral opportunities for OBC students. Expanding the number of fellowships and scholarship beneficiaries could improve participation rates and reduce exclusion.
Weak outcome tracking also limits the scheme’s ability to evaluate long-term effectiveness. Introducing measurable indicators such as completion rates, research output, transition into employment, and higher education retention rates would strengthen institutional accountability and policy evaluation.
Administrative delays in verification and disbursement continue to affect timely delivery of benefits. Streamlining National Scholarship Portal processes, reducing approval timelines, and improving coordination between institutions and government authorities could improve implementation efficiency.
Awareness gaps remain another challenge, particularly in rural and underrepresented regions where eligible students may lack information about the scheme or face difficulties navigating digital application systems. Expanding outreach through educational institutions, regional awareness campaigns, and multilingual digital support systems can improve accessibility.
Finally, financial support alone is insufficient to ensure sustained educational mobility. Integrating mentorship programmes, academic support systems, and institutional counselling mechanisms alongside scholarships may help address non-financial barriers faced by students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Way Forward
The SHREYAS scheme represents an important step toward expanding access to higher education for OBC students. However, its long-term effectiveness depends on moving beyond a narrow focus on financial assistance toward a broader framework of educational mobility and institutional inclusion.
Expanding annual fellowship allocations, increasing beneficiary coverage, and improving utilisation efficiency will be critical to ensuring wider impact. Strengthening monitoring systems and publishing measurable outcome indicators such as completion rates, employment outcomes, and research participation can improve transparency and accountability.
The scheme must also address structural barriers beyond affordability. Integrating financial assistance with mentorship initiatives, preparatory programmes, academic counselling, and institutional support structures can help improve retention and long-term success among beneficiaries.
In the context of NEP 2020, SHREYAS must evolve from a selective scholarship mechanism into a more comprehensive inclusion strategy that addresses not only access, but also retention, completion, and sustained educational mobility.
References
- Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (2023), SHREYAS Scheme Guidelines.
https://socialjustice.gov.in - Ministry of Education (2022), AISHE Report 2021–22. https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/statistics-new/AISHE%20Book_2021-22_4.pdf
- Government of India (2023), Economic Survey 2022–23. https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/budget2023-24/economicsurvey/doc/echapter.pdf
- PRS Legislative Research (2023), Standing Committee Reports on Social Justice and Empowerment. https://prsindia.org/parliamentary-committees/social-justice-and-empowerment
- Press Information Bureau (2023–2025), Scholarship and Fellowship Updates. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1989083®=3&lang=2
About the Contributor
Vishvaney Agarwal is an undergraduate student of Political Science at Ashoka University and a Research Intern at IMPRI. Her interests lie in public policy, governance, and questions of social inclusion and institutional accountability.
Acknowledgement
The author sincerely thanks Ms. Tejaswini R, Ms. Shivani Chauhan and the IMPRI team for their constructive comments and editorial guidance during the review of this policy update.
Disclaimer: Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of IMPRI.
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