Grant of Stipends to the Physically Handicapped Students(GSPHS)

Overview

About GSPHS

The Grant of Stipends to the Physically Handicapped Students is Goa's monthly stipend for school children with disabilities, and the Rs 200 and Rs 300 rates still quoted for it belong to a 2008 scheme the state superseded in January 2026. The scheme that replaced it, published in the Official Gazette as the Grant of Stipend to Students with Disabilities, pays Rs 300 to Rs 500 a month from Anganwadi to Class 8 and allows a combined family income of up to Rs 8 lakh. It is run by the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, and the 2026-27 window on the Chief Minister Scholarship Portal closes on 15 October 2026.

The stipend is paid to children enrolled in a recognised school, from Anganwadi, preschool or Balvatika up to Class 8, who have a benchmark disability of 40% or more as the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 defines it. Its stated aim is to help them past the economic barriers that might otherwise keep them from attending school (Official Gazette, Series I No. 42, 15 January 2026).

Families searching the old name are looking for the same stipend under a new title. By a notification dated 28 October 2025, the department superseded The Grant of Stipend to Physically Handicap Student, a scheme notified on 20 May 2008 and published in the Gazette on 22 May 2008, with the Grant of Stipend to Students with Disabilities, which came into force on its publication in the Official Gazette on 15 January 2026 (Official Gazette notification).

The myScheme record reproduced under each section of this page still describes that 2008 scheme: Rs 200 and Rs 300 a month, a Goa residence condition, a caste certificate and fee receipt among the documents, and the Directorate of Social Welfare as the office in charge. Those rules stopped applying on 15 January 2026, and where the record and the 2026 notification differ, an application made now is decided under the notification (State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, state sector schemes; Official Gazette notification).

The department in charge is new as well. Created by splitting the Directorate of Social Welfare, it was due to start work on 1 April 2024 and to take over every ongoing scheme for persons with disabilities except the Dayanand Social Security Scheme (PwD) and special schools (Department of Information and Publicity, 31 March 2024). Its own scheme page now carries the 2026 rates and conditions (Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, stipend page).

The filing route moved with it. In 2022 the Directorate of Social Welfare handed out paper forms at its 18 June Road office in Panaji, to be returned by 31 October 2022 with the school's recommendation (Department of Information and Publicity, 2 August 2022). The stipend now sits on the Chief Minister Scholarship Portal, listed as Stipend to Disabled Students under the Person with Disability category (Chief Minister Scholarship Portal, schemes).

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

The notification fixes no calendar, so each year's window comes from the portal and the department's press notes.

The 2025-26 window opened and closed before the 2026 notification took effect on 15 January 2026, and the department's 4 September 2025 note for that year still quoted Rs 200 and Rs 300 a month; the 9 July 2026 note for 2026-27 quotes Rs 300, Rs 400 and Rs 500 (Official Gazette notification; Department of Information and Publicity, 4 September 2025; Department of Information and Publicity, 9 July 2026, Konkani).

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

Clause 5 of the 2026 notification lists seven eligibility conditions, and clause 3 limits the stipend to Anganwadi through Class VIII (Official Gazette notification).

• Disability. The child needs a benchmark disability, 40% or more under the 2016 Act, and a UDID card. The older eligibility wording in the myScheme record, disability "as specified under Rule 4 read with Rule 5", is not used anywhere in the 2026 text.
• Class. Anganwadi, preschool or Balvatika through Class 8. The record's reference to standards 1st to 10th no longer holds: a child in Class 9 or 10 now falls under the department's separate scholarship, which the portal lists for students "studying from 9th standard onwards" (Chief Minister Scholarship Portal, schemes).
• Income. The combined family income on a certificate from the competent authority must not exceed Rs 8.0 lakh a year.
• School and other awards. The child must be a regular student of a recognised school and must not be drawing a stipend from any other source. Every child with a disability in the same family can hold the stipend if each meets the other conditions.
• Progress. A child repeating a standard is ineligible, though the Director can condone the failure.

Two conditions from the 2008 scheme, that the applicant be a bonafide resident of Goa and not live in or be maintained by a government or grant-aided institution (State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, state sector schemes), do not appear among the 2026 conditions.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

Under the 2026 notification a child cannot draw the stipend in any of these situations (Official Gazette notification):

• the child already receives a stipend from another source;
• the child is repeating a standard and the Director has not condoned the failure;
• the disability is assessed below 40%, or the child has no UDID card;
• the combined family income is above Rs 8.0 lakh a year;
• the child is in Class 9 or above, which the stipend does not cover.

Continuation

Renewal conditions

The 2026 notification has no renewal clause. What it does say works a year at a time: one academic year is counted as 11 months, applications are taken "within the period as may be specified from time to time", and a failed annual examination or unsatisfactory progress or conduct can see the stipend cancelled or withheld for a period (Official Gazette notification).

The department's 9 July 2026 note asks students to register on the portal for 2026-27, and the portal's Track Application search is keyed to the academic year, so plan on a fresh application each year (Department of Information and Publicity, 9 July 2026, Konkani; Chief Minister Scholarship Portal). Moving up from Class 8 ends the stipend; the next award is the department's Scholarship for Disabled Students, which the portal lists as a separate scheme for Class 9 onwards (Chief Minister Scholarship Portal, schemes).

What you get

Award & benefits

Clause 6 of the notification sets one rate per class band and counts an academic year as 11 months (Official Gazette notification).

Payment is by ECS, and the notification names no payment month; the September and January instalments in the myScheme record are not part of the 2026 text (Official Gazette notification). The stipend is the whole benefit: the notification attaches no book, uniform or travel component to it.

• Monthly Stipend Rates
• Standards 1 to 4: ₹200 per month
• Standards 5 to 8: ₹200 per month
• Standards 9 to 12: ₹300 per month
• Duration: 11 months (full academic year)
• Disbursement: Two installments (September and January)

What to prepare

Documents required

The notification lists six documents, and it names the hospitals whose disability certificate it accepts (Official Gazette notification):

• a disability certificate from Goa Medical College, Bambolim, the District Hospital North or South, or the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour, Bambolim;
• the UDID card;
• an income certificate from the competent authority showing no more than Rs 8.0 lakh a year;
• a copy of the mark sheet of the last annual examination;
• a copy of the bank passbook, with the account seeded to Aadhaar;
• a copy of the Aadhaar card.

The department's scheme page adds a recommendation from the head of the institution where the child studies (Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, stipend page). Neither official list asks for the caste certificate or the fee receipt that appear in the myScheme record. A child entering Anganwadi has no previous mark sheet, and the notification does not say what replaces it, so that is a question for the department before the deadline.

A child without a UDID card has to get one first. The card is applied for online on the Swavlamban Card portal with an Aadhaar card, the disability certificate and a passport-size photograph (Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, UDID page).

Step by step

How to apply

The 2026-27 application is online only, on the Chief Minister Scholarship Portal, and the department has said that requests for offline filing will not be entertained (Department of Information and Publicity, 9 July 2026, Konkani). The portal sets out four steps (Chief Minister Scholarship Portal):

1. Register on the portal with the minimum details it asks for.
2. Log in and fill in the online application for Stipend to Disabled Students under the Person with Disability category.
3. Scan and upload the documents.
4. Submit the application to the school or institute for verification.

Pick the stipend, not the scholarship. The Person with Disability category carries both under the same department, and only the stipend covers Anganwadi to Class 8 (Chief Minister Scholarship Portal, schemes).

Checking Status by Aadhaar Number and Date of Birth

To see where a stipend application stands, pick 2026-2027 in the Track Application box on the portal's home page and enter the child's Aadhaar number and date of birth; the same list still offers 2025-2026 and 2024-2025 for older files (Chief Minister Scholarship Portal). The portal's contact page splits the help two ways: the National Informatics Centre, Goa on +91-9423883386 for technical queries, and the department on +91 9834373081 for the stipend itself (Chief Minister Scholarship Portal, contact page).

If an application shows as verified but no money arrives, start with the school. The notification releases payment by ECS only after the school or institution furnishes G.A.R 33 (Official Gazette notification), so a pending school step can hold up the credit.

How winners are picked

Selection process

The department scrutinises each application, and the Director, named in clause 6 as the sanctioning authority, sanctions or rejects it, with that decision final. Nothing in the notification ranks applicants against each other or fixes a number of stipends, so the clause 5 conditions are the whole test (Official Gazette notification). The head of the child's school has a say before that, since a recommendation from the head of the institution is on the department's document list (Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, stipend page).

Fine print

Terms & conditions

The notification's conditions run for the whole year, not only at the application stage (Official Gazette notification):

• the stipend can be cancelled or withheld for a period if the child fails the annual examination, or if progress or conduct is unsatisfactory;
• incorrect information or suppressed facts make the award liable to cancellation;
• the student must follow the rules the authority prescribes, on the same penalty;
• a child who discontinues studies during the year can be asked to refund the stipend, at the department's discretion;
• the Government can relax any condition in a genuine case, can modify or amend the scheme, and has the final word on how any clause is read.

Get help

Contact

Queries on this stipend go to the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, not the Directorate of Social Welfare: Building B, 3rd Floor, New Market Complex, Porvorim, Bardez, Goa; landline 0832-2912601; mobile +91 98343 73081; email dir-depwd@goa.gov.in. The department's contact form says it aims to respond within 7 working days (Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, contact page).

Source

Official links

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.

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References

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