The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) has issued a set of six urgent directives to heads of educational institutions to ensure transparency in the disbursement of student scholarships and prevent fraudulent activities by impersonators.

In an official notice signed by the DSHE Director General, institutions have been advised to strictly follow the outlined procedures and maintain confidentiality of sensitive information, including login credentials and student banking details.

The directives aim to minimise the risk of misappropriation and protect students from financial fraud.

According to the notice, all scholarships and stipends under the revenue budget—including those for PSC, JSC, SSC, HSC, Honours, as well as vocational and marginalised category stipends—are disbursed via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) to students’ scheduled online bank accounts.

Educational institutions are responsible for entering and updating data of eligible students using the Scholarship MIS software, accessible through institution-specific User IDs and passwords. The DSHE clarified that all instructions regarding data entry and corrections are uploaded on its website and that no such information is collected directly from institutions, students, or guardians.

The department warned that fraudulent groups have recently been posing as officials from various government bodies and banks to deceive institutions and individuals into sharing sensitive financial information, including User IDs, passwords, bank account details, debit or credit card numbers, PINs, and OTPs.

DSHE has reiterated that no such information is required for the disbursement process and has strongly advised all concerned—including educational institutions, students, and guardians—to refrain from engaging in financial transactions or sharing confidential data with unauthorised individuals.

Institutions have also been instructed to maintain strict confidentiality of their User IDs and passwords to prevent unauthorised access to the MIS portal.

Further information regarding the scholarship process is available on the DSHE website.