Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday, 24 August declared that financial hardship will no longer stand between young people in the state and higher education, pointing to two flagship scholarship programmes — Mukhya Mantri Nijut Moina Aasoni and Nijut Babu Aasoni — as the government's primary instruments to achieve that goal.

What the Chief Minister Said

In a post on X, Sarma stated that no parent in Assam should have to worry about affording higher education for their child. 'In Assam, no parent should have to worry about affording higher education for their child,' the Chief Minister said, adding that both schemes were enabling boys and girls to pursue their ambitions without finances becoming a barrier.

Nijut Moina: Supporting Girls Through Education

The Mukhya Mantri Nijut Moina Aasoni was launched by the Assam government as a financial assistance programme specifically targeting girl students, with the twin objectives of encouraging continued enrolment and reducing dropout rates. The scheme provides direct financial incentives to eligible girls at the higher secondary and higher education levels. The government has since expanded the initiative to support girls at multiple stages of their academic journey, broadening its reach across the state.

Nijut Babu: Bridging the Gap for Male Students

The Nijut Babu Aasoni extends similar support to male students from economically weaker families. Eligible students enrolled in the first year of undergraduate and postgraduate courses at government and provincialised institutions receive assistance through direct benefit transfer. According to state government guidelines, the scheme is designed to raise enrolment among economically vulnerable male students, cut dropout rates at the higher education entry level, and improve Assam's overall Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER). It also aims to promote gender balance in educational financial support.

Fresh Guidelines for 2026 Academic Session

The Higher Education Department has issued updated guidelines for both Nijut Moina and Nijut Babu for the 2026 academic session, signalling the government's sustained commitment to student financial assistance. Together, the two schemes form the cornerstone of Assam's broader push to expand access to higher education and keep students in classrooms beyond the school level.

This comes amid wider national efforts to improve GER in higher education, where India's aggregate figure still trails global benchmarks. Assam's twin-scheme model — covering both genders through targeted, direct-transfer support — represents a state-level attempt to address structural dropout pressures that affect first-generation college-goers most acutely. Whether the updated 2026 guidelines address past implementation gaps will determine how effectively the schemes move the enrolment needle.