Laptop Scheme for Meritorious Students of SC/ST(LSMSSCST)

Overview

About LSMSSCST

The Laptop Scheme for Meritorious Students of SC/ST gives a free laptop to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students in Goa who finish near the top of their taluka in the Goa Board Class X examination. It is not open to every SC or ST student who passes. A student needs at least 70% at the first attempt and a place among the top five SC/ST boys or top five SC/ST girls of Class X in the taluka where they went to school (ITG).

In the 2024-25 batch more taluka places went unfilled than filled (press release, DITE&C release), so the rank rule is less of a wall than it first looks.

The Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (DITE&C) owns the scheme, and the Info Tech Corporation of Goa Ltd (ITG), a Government of Goa undertaking, takes the applications and runs the scrutinising committee that picks the students (ITG scheme page). The myScheme record printed on this page names the Information and Publicity Department as the provider (myScheme). That department issues the government's press notes, and the call for the 2022-23 Class X batch went out under its name in September 2023 (DIP press note). The form, the selection and the helpdesk all sit with ITG.

The state's 2025-26 budget memorandum sets the size: ten SC students and ten ST students, five boys and five girls in each group, from every one of Goa's 12 talukas (Explanatory Memorandum 2025-26). DITE&C handed over 121 laptops for the 2023-24 batch and 111 for 2024-25 on 25 August 2025, and counted over 450 beneficiaries since the scheme began in 2022 (DITE&C release). The July 2025 call for the 2024-25 batch used the same ten-and-ten allocation in every taluka (press release), so its 111 laptops (DITE&C release) filled fewer than half of the places on offer that year.

For a Goa Board SC or ST student who crossed 70% at the first attempt, those empty places are a reason to apply even when the taluka rank looks doubtful, because ITG's committee chooses only from the complete applications it receives (ITG instructions). A qualifying student who does not apply cannot be picked, whatever the marks.

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

The dates below are the ones the state has announced for past rounds:

ITG's page and portal give the 2025-26 closing date but no opening date for that round (ITG). The deadline has had no fixed month, falling in October 2023, July 2025 and September 2026, and ITG says it announces the start and last dates every year. The 2025 call was already open on 5 July (press release), so a Goa Board SC or ST student expecting a strong Class X result has reason to check ITG's page from July onwards.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

The myScheme record below says only that the applicant should be born in Goa, and ranks a student among the Class 10 male or female students of the taluka (myScheme). ITG's 2025-26 criteria differ on both points (ITG). A student born outside Goa still qualifies if at least one parent was born in the state, and the top five are counted among the taluka's Class X SC/ST boys or SC/ST girls, not among every student who sat the examination. ITG runs the selection, so its wording is the one an applicant is judged against.

The marks test belongs to the year of the call. The 2025-26 instructions ask for at least 70% aggregate in the Goa Board Class X examination of Academic Year 2025-26, cleared at the first attempt, and the mark sheet uploaded has to be for that same year (ITG instructions). A student from an earlier Class X batch cannot use this call.

The taluka that counts is the one where the student went to school, not the family's home taluka. A girl who lives in Bardez but studied in Tiswadi is ranked among the SC/ST girls of Tiswadi. No family income limit appears anywhere in ITG's criteria or instructions: community, the Goa birth link, the board, the first-attempt pass, the marks and the taluka rank decide it.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

ITG publishes no separate exclusion list, but its 2025-26 criteria shut out these students in practice (ITG):

• A student who took Class X under CBSE, ICSE or any board other than the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, whatever the marks.
• A student who passed Class X only on a later attempt.
• A student with no Goa birth link, meaning neither the student nor either parent was born in Goa.
• A student holding only a caste certificate from another state, since ITG asks for one issued by the competent authority of the Government of Goa.
• Students outside the SC and ST communities, including OBC and EWS students.
• Anyone whose application is incomplete, because ITG considers only applications complete in all respects (ITG instructions).

Continuation

Renewal conditions

There is nothing to renew. The laptop is handed over once, against one Class X result, and ITG's instructions describe no second laptop, upgrade or later claim in Class XI or XII (ITG instructions).

What you get

Award & benefits

The award is a laptop, not money. The 2023-24 and 2024-25 batches collected theirs together at a distribution ceremony at ESG, Panaji, held in the presence of the state's IT minister and ITG's chairman (DITE&C release).

ITG's scheme page, instructions and notices name no model, specification or rupee value for the laptop. The budget does not settle it either: the 2025-26 memorandum funds the scheme from the IT department's SC and ST sub-plan heads, each shared with the free courses at its IT Knowledge Centres, so no per-laptop cost can be read from it (Explanatory Memorandum 2025-26).

• Laptop is provided to the meritorious student.

What to prepare

Documents required

ITG's 2025-26 form asks for seven uploads, one more than the myScheme record lists: a recent passport-size photograph of the applicant, in JPG or JPEG format (ITG instructions). Every other document goes in as a PDF within the permitted file size. Three of ITG's specifications go further than the myScheme wording:

• Birth certificate. The birth certificate of one parent, issued in Goa, is accepted in place of the student's own, which is how the parent-born-in-Goa route is proved.
• Parent or guardian ID. The signed photo ID must belong to the same parent or guardian whose name is on the consent form.
• Mark sheet. It must be the Goa Board SSC mark sheet for Academic Year 2025-26, the year the call is for.

The consent form is ITG's Annexure I. The parent names the student and the high school the student passed from, then signs (consent form).

Step by step

How to apply

The 2025-26 round ran entirely online through ITG's form-filling portal (ITG). The sequence ITG describes is:

1. Register on the portal at itggoa.formsubmit.in; a student who has already registered uses the Login button.
2. Download the consent form, have the parent fill and sign it, take a photograph of the completed form, and upload it in the Document Details section of the application.
3. Upload the photograph and the PDFs, then submit before the last date, which was 13 September 2026 for this round (ITG).

ITG's documents describe no online status tracker. The portal keeps a Login route for registered applicants, and the helpdesk ITG names for queries is topper.helpdesk@gmail.com or 9607963089, Monday to Friday except public holidays, 9:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (ITG). Past outcomes have been announced in DITE&C press releases, such as the August 2025 note on the 232 laptops (DITE&C release).

How winners are picked

Selection process

ITG's scrutinising committee reviews only complete applications and selects the top five boys and top five girls under each taluka-wise criterion (ITG instructions). ITG's 2023 notice added that candidature is subject to verification of documents (ITG notice).

Whether SC and ST students compete in one taluka list or two is spelled out in the scheme's other papers, not on ITG's 2025-26 page. The 2023 notice for the 2022-23 batch (ITG notice) and the July 2025 call for 2024-25 (press release) each give every taluka ten places for SC students and ten for ST students, and the 2025-26 budget memorandum describes the same split (Explanatory Memorandum 2025-26). ITG's 2025-26 page words the rank as the top five among the taluka's Class X (ST/SC) boys or girls without restating the split (ITG), so separate SC and ST lists are what the earlier calls and the budget describe, not something the current page confirms.

ITG has not published a tie-break rule for two students with the same aggregate.

Fine print

Terms & conditions

By signing Annexure I, the parent agrees that the laptop will not be used for any commercial purpose or sold (consent form). The September 2023 call said any addendum, corrigendum or further notification would be published on ITG's website (DIP press note), so a changed date or rule is likely to appear there first.

Get help

Contact

ITG, not the publicity department, answers questions about this scheme. Technical problems with the form go to topper.helpdesk@gmail.com or 9607963089, and ITG's office is at IT HUB, 3rd Floor, Altinho, Panaji, Goa 403001, telephone (0832) 2226024 or 2224192 (ITG). The same page carries a Get in Touch form for written queries.

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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