Poor students who receive government merit scholarships will now be able to apply for stipends under the Integrated Stipend Program of the Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust.
The change was confirmed in a recent memorandum signed by the Trust’s Scheme Director and Joint Secretary, Mohammad Asadul Haque.
Earlier rules did not allow students to apply if they already received any other government stipend or education allowance. That restriction has now been removed for students who hold merit scholarships.
Officials said the revised regulation will allow financially disadvantaged but high-performing students to receive wider support from government programmes. The Trust has also reformed the stipend application verification committee at the institutional level.
Under the new structure, the head of the educational institution will serve as the chairperson of the committee. Members will include the relevant ward councillor or union parishad member and one parent representative from the institution’s governing body.
The concerned class teacher will act as the member secretary of the committee. Previously, there was no provision for a parent representative in the verification body.
According to the revised rules, applications must be collected in the prescribed form from students newly admitted to Class Six and, in special cases, Class Nine for the 2026 academic year.
Applications will also be collected from students admitted to Class Eleven and Alim First Year for the 2025–26 academic year. All collected student information must be entered into the HSP-MIS software, which is the official digital system used by the programme to manage and verify stipend data.
The Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust has instructed all educational institutions to complete student data collection and submit the information to the reconstituted verification committee by 22 February. The committee will examine the application forms and may conduct home visits if necessary before preparing the final list of recommended students.
The revised application form is available through the Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust website and the HSP-MIS software platform.
Education officials say the new rule is expected to improve access to financial assistance for poor students who perform well in academic assessments and rely on government support to continue their studies.
Institutions have been asked to follow the new committee structure and updated rules immediately when processing applications for the upcoming academic sessions.