Scholarship
RMEWF-Financial Assistance For Education Of Children & Widows Of Ex-Servicemen(RMEWF - EDUCATION)
Overview
About RMEWF - EDUCATION
The RMEWF Financial Assistance for Education of Children and Widows of Ex-Servicemen now pays Rs 2,000 a month per head, twice what it paid before. The Raksha Mantri approved the rise from Rs 1,000 in October 2025, for up to two dependent children studying from Class I to graduation or for a widow pursuing a two-year postgraduate course, and the revised rate applies to applications submitted from November 01, 2025 onwards (PIB, 15 October 2025). The cut-over turns on the date an application is submitted, not on the academic year it claims for. The Rs 1,000 a month that the scheme's myScheme record still carries is the October 2011 rate, left in force only for applications submitted before that date (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand; DESW order of 15 October 2025).
This is a grant for the families of servicemen who left the forces in the lower ranks. An ex-serviceman (ESM) who retired as a Havildar or below in the Army, or in an equivalent Navy or Air Force rank, qualifies whether or not he draws a pension: the ministry's own grant table, placed before the Lok Sabha, lists the education grant against "Pensioner/Non Pensioner up to Hav Rank" (PIB, 2 August 2024).
The money comes from the Raksha Mantri Ex-Servicemen Welfare Fund, a subset of the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund, and the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare runs the grant through the Kendriya Sainik Board (KSB) (PIB, 15 October 2025). One feature shapes everything else about it: the family files for a school or college year that has already ended, not for the year ahead. The KSB's channel of application, reproduced word for word on the page of Uttarakhand's Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, calls for the application "for the just concluded academic year" (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand).
Who runs it
Provider
Ministry Of Defence
Central Government
Central Sector Scheme
At a glance
Key details
| Level | Central |
| Scheme type | Central Sector Scheme |
| Category | Education & Learning |
| Beneficiaries | Individual |
| Benefit type | Cash |
| Application mode | Online |
| Direct Benefit Transfer | Yes |
| Tags | Wards Of Ex-Servicemen, Ex-Servicemen, Widow Of Ex-Servicemen, Grant |
| Source record | myScheme, 2026-07-08official-site· 2026-07-08 |
Calendar
Important dates
No fixed calendar date is written into the scheme. The opening date of 1 January 1981 on the myScheme record marks the year the scheme started, not an application window (myScheme; Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand).
The dates that do govern a claim come from three places.
| Stage | When | Who sets it |
|---|---|---|
| Filing window | As per the schedule promulgated each year; cut-off dates on the portal's News section | KSB Secretariat |
| Period a claim may cover | The academic year just concluded; cases older than one year are not accepted | KSB channel of application |
| Rs 2,000 rate | Applications submitted from November 01, 2025 onwards | Ministry of Defence |
| Cycle | Stage | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Current | Applications open | 1981-01-01 |
Who can apply
Eligibility criteria
Rank decides eligibility here, not income. Neither the scheme conditions on the Uttarakhand directorate's page nor the ministry's grant tables set an income ceiling; the filter is that the ex-serviceman retired as a Havildar or equivalent, or below (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand; PIB, 2 August 2024).
The Uttarakhand directorate's page words the rank limit more precisely than the myScheme record does. It extends the grant to ESM "upto the rank of Havildar including MACP Nb Sub in the Army and equivalent in the Navy and Air Force", so a financial upgrade to Naib Subedar under the Modified Assured Career Progression scheme does not by itself take a Havildar's family outside the limit (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand). A substantive Naib Subedar or any higher rank sits above it. The same page describes the two eligible children as the "first two born", subject to the twin and bereavement exceptions in the scheme's eligibility list, and extends the grant to the orphans of ESM.
A widow's own study counts only at one level: a two-year postgraduate degree.
Registration with the Zila Sainik Board (ZSB) comes first in practice, because the ESM or widow identity card that the ZSB issues is one of the documents every claim must carry.
| Applicant must be an ESM/ widow/Orphan dependent. | |
| Should be of rank Havildar/equivalent and below. | |
| The scheme is applicable for classes 1 to 12 of school and undergraduate classes of a degree college. This grant is also admissible to widows who wish to pursue 2-year post graduate degree. The ward/widow shall complete the course successfully. | |
| The applicant should not be drawing education allowance or similar benefit from the State or is employer. | |
| The scheme is eligible for only first two children. However, in case of twin children, below mentioned condition shall be applicable:- | |
| In case the 1st and 2nd children are twins only twins will be eligible as maximum two children are permitted. | |
| In case 2nd and 3rd children are twins both will be eligible for education financial assistance alongwith 1st. Thus the ESM can avail for three children subject to fulfilment of above mentioned criteria. | |
| In case of unfortunate demise of 1st or 2nd child. In case of unfortunate demise of 1st child, 2nd and 3rd children as mentioned in discharge book will be eligible. Similarly in case of demise of 2nd child, the 3rd child will be eligible as mentioned in discharge book. The death certificate will be uploaded as supporting document with online application for scrutiny. |
Who cannot apply
Exclusions
The widest bar is on professional and technical courses, and the published scheme conditions never list which courses that means. The nearest official list belongs to a different KSB scheme: the Prime Minister's Scholarship Scheme brochure counts BE, B Tech, BDS, MBBS, B Ed, BBA, BCA, B Pharma and BA+LLB among the first professional degree courses it funds (KSB PMSS information brochure). Nothing published says the education grant borrows that list, so a family whose child has joined one of those degrees should put the course to the Zila Sainik Welfare Officer (ZSWO) before filing rather than assume either way.
The second bar, on double funding, is enforced through the applicant's own signature: a self-certificate that no money or grant has been taken from the state or the present employer in the form of an education allowance or scholarship (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand). The words "present employer" reach an ex-serviceman who took up a second career after leaving the forces, since an education allowance drawn from that employer bars the claim.
Two practical disqualifiers sit outside the exclusions list. A case older than one year is not accepted, and a year the child or widow did not complete successfully cannot be claimed at all (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand).
- This grant is not applicable for any of the professional or technical courses/degrees.
- The applicant must not receive education allowance, scholarship, or similar benefit from the State Government or employer.
Continuation
Renewal conditions
There is no renewal form, because every year is a new claim. The KSB's channel of application requires the applicant to apply for the grant after the successful completion of every academic year (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand).
A child who studies from Class I to the end of a degree therefore produces a separate claim for each of those years, each resting on that year's mark sheet or progress card. An unclaimed year does not carry forward once it falls outside the one-year window. The move from Class 12 to college keeps the claim alive only if the new course is an ordinary undergraduate degree rather than a professional or technical one.
What you get
Award & benefits
The grant is Rs 2,000 a month per head, for up to two dependent children or a widow on a two-year postgraduate course. The order behind it, issued by the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare on 15 October 2025 to the Secretary of the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund with copies to the Directors of every Rajya Sainik Board, raises the education grant from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per month per child and brings the revised rate into force for applications submitted from November 01, 2025 (DESW order; DESW welfare circulars; PIB, 15 October 2025). The Rs 1,000 a month in the scheme's myScheme benefits list and official FAQ is therefore the pre-revision rate.
Payment follows the finished year. The ZSWO recommends the claim and forwards it through the Rajya Sainik Board to the KSB Secretariat "for approval and payment in the current financial year" (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand). The rate is flat: it does not change with the fee a school or college charges, and since 2011 it has been the same for sons and daughters.
The rate has been revised several times since the scheme began in 1981.
| Revision | Rate | Who it covered |
|---|---|---|
| 1981, scheme start | Rs 15 per child | Up to three children, up to Class XII |
| 1996 | Rs 100 a month | Not restated in the revision history |
| 2007 | Rs 200 a month for boys and Rs 400 for girls up to Class XII; Rs 600 a month for girls up to graduation | Two children up to Class XII; girls up to graduation |
| October 2011 | Rs 1,000 a month per child | Up to two children to graduation; widows for a postgraduate degree |
| Applications from November 01, 2025 | Rs 2,000 a month per head | Up to two dependent children, Class I to graduation; widows for a two-year postgraduate course |
The ministry put the annual cost of doubling the penury, marriage and education grants together at approximately Rs 257 crore, met from the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund (PIB, 15 October 2025).
- Financial Assistance for Children: ₹1,000/- per month per child.
- Available for a maximum of 2 eligible children.
- Applicable from Class 1 to Class 12 and undergraduate degree courses.
- The child must successfully complete the academic year/course.
- Financial Assistance for Widows: Available for widows pursuing a 2-year postgraduate degree course.
- The widow must successfully complete the course.
- Special Provision for Twin Children: If the 2nd and 3rd children are twins, assistance may be granted to all 3 children, subject to fulfillment of eligibility conditions.
- If the 1st and 2nd children are twins, assistance is restricted to the twin children only.
What to prepare
Documents required
Each document is handled twice: a scanned image is uploaded on the KSB portal, and a copy attested by the ZSWO goes with the application (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand). The portal states the permitted image size at the upload step.
The link between the child and the ex-serviceman is proved from the service record: the family particulars page of the discharge book, backed by a Part II Order naming the child or a matching entry in the discharge book. Where neither names the child, the claim is missing one of its required documents. The bank details requested are the ex-serviceman's account number and IFS code, and the Aadhaar copy is also the ESM's (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand).
Step by step
How to apply
The claim is filed online and then checked in person at the district office, in four steps.
- Open the KSB registration form, fill in every mandatory field and upload the required documents (myScheme).
- Enter the verification code and submit.
- Print the submitted form, attach copies of the documents and hand the set in at the ZSB.
- Under the KSB's channel of application, the ZSWO scrutinises the online application, gives the applicant an appointment, verifies the claim, and then recommends it and forwards it through the Rajya Sainik Board to the KSB Secretariat (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand).
Filing follows the schedule the KSB Secretariat promulgates, and the cut-off dates for every category are uploaded to the News section of the KSB web portal (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand).
Tracking the Claim
myScheme's instructions for this scheme point to the Status of Application page on the KSB website: enter the application's DAK ID and the verification code, then click Search (myScheme).
A failed payment has its own route: the channel of application directs that it be handled under the instructions in KSB letter no. 181/Welfare/Re-issue/Obsn/20-21 dated 09 Feb 2021 (Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand).
- 1Apply onlinehttps://164.100.158.73/registration.htm
How winners are picked
Selection process
The scheme text publishes no merit list and no cap on the number of awards; the test is eligibility, and it is checked at two levels. After the ZSWO's scrutiny, the KSB Secretariat's Welfare Section-in-Charge assigns the application to a clerk who enters its data, a second clerk checks those entries, and the Section-in-Charge verifies the file and puts it up to the Joint Director (Welfare), who obtains the approval of the Secretary, KSB (myScheme). Only after that approval is the application processed for payment.
Fine print
Terms & conditions
The rate is fixed by Ministry of Defence order, not by the KSB portal or the myScheme record. The latest revision on the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare's circulars list is order No. 22(31)/2025-D(Res-II), dated 15 October 2025 and titled "Revision of Financial assistance of Penury Grant, Marriage Grant and Education Grant under Armed Forces Flag Day Fund" (DESW welfare circulars; DESW order). A family whose ZSB counter still quotes Rs 1,000 for an application submitted from November 01, 2025 can point to that order number. Because the order keys the rate to the submission date, a later order could move the figure again for claims filed after it.
Get help
Contact
The first office for every question is the Zila Sainik Board of the district where the ex-serviceman is registered: it issues the identity card, attests the documents and verifies the claim. Above it sits the Rajya Sainik Board of the state, through which the claim travels.
The Kendriya Sainik Board Secretariat is at West Block-IV, Wing-VII, 2nd Floor, R K Puram, New Delhi-110066 (KSB PMSS information brochure).
Source
Official links
Questions
RMEWF - EDUCATION – FAQ
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.
References
Sources
- PIB, 15 October 2025 – pib.gov.in
- Directorate of Soldier Welfare and Rehabilitation, Uttarakhand – sainikkalyan.uk.gov.in
- DESW order of 15 October 2025 – desw.gov.in
- KSB PMSS information brochure – swd.hp.gov.in
- myScheme – myscheme.gov.in
- Scheme Guidelines – ksb.gov.in