Mumbai: With two days to go, schools and parents sweat over APAAR ID

Rohan Bhatt, chairman of Children’s Academy Group of Schools; Sunita George, principal, Bombay Scottish School, Mahim

Facing criticism from the Union government over low student registration for APAAR IDs, the state education department and the State Project Director of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, have directed all schools to ensure that their students are registered within the next two days. The Union government had set a deadline of November 30 for all students to receive their APAAR IDs, but as of November 25, only 65 lakh students - just 35 per cent of the total - have been issued IDs. To accelerate process, the state has designated November 29 and 30 as APAAR ID Days, during which schools are expected to ensure maximum registrations.

To address the challenges, schools are coordinating with municipal officers, block education officers, cluster heads, and education inspectors, who have been instructed to visit campuses during the designated days to oversee the progress. "All schools must observe APAAR ID Days with special campaigns to facilitate registrations. District-level online review meetings will also be held to assess progress and provide further guidance," state project director of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan R Vimala stated in the directive issued on November 26.

To ensure success, all districts have been directed to maximise efforts during APAAR ID Days. Officials have emphasised the importance of collaboration and accountability at every level, with district and block-level officers tasked with monitoring the initiative's implementation. The state government has also mandated special review meetings at the district level to evaluate the progress of APAAR ID generation and address any bottlenecks.

Schools and parents speak

Prasad Gokhale, a Borivli resident and parent, said, "I am still not clear about what this APAAR ID concept exactly is. If it's for an online record of results and progress of a child, then that's fine. The information must be properly safeguarded, otherwise, it could be harmful to both students and parents. I strongly suspect that this data will be provided to private companies in the education sector to increase their customer base."

"We had sent the consent forms to parents and explained to them what they need to do just ahead of elections. Still, many parents have returned to us with concerns about data privacy and other queries. We sent these forms to parents across all three of our schools, which is a total of 8,000 students. It's not easy to collect data from such a huge number of students and upload it on the government site. We also have to verify all the details. Completing this in two days is simply not possible - it will take time," said Rohan Bhatt, chairman of the Children's Academy Group of Schools.

"For parents who are not sending their consent, we have requested them to share their reasons for refusal. The work of gathering data is ongoing. However, due to exams, Diwali vacations, and then the elections, we couldn't collect much data during this period," said Sunita George, Principal of Bombay Scottish School, Mahim.

"Many parents ask for official government letters or clarification. Now, there's even a refusal format, but indirectly, officials are pushing us to get parents to consent. They question why we couldn't obtain consent, why data hasn't been uploaded, what actions we're taking as principals, and how many meetings we've held to explain the process to parents," said a principal from a school in South Mumbai.

What is APAAR ID?

The APAAR ID (Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry) is a unique lifelong identification number introduced under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Designed to track a student's academic journey from pre-primary to higher education, it stores records of learning outcomes, extracurricular achievements, and skills. Unlike Aadhaar, APAAR focuses solely on education, acting as an "edulocker" for academic data. The Union Education Ministry has instructed schools to secure parental consent for APAAR enrolment. The system aims to address issues like student dropouts and ensure consistency in monitoring educational progress.

Roles of schools and parents

Schools:
>> Update Aadhaar details for students.
>> Obtain parental consent.
>> Upload student data on the UDISE+ portal.
>> Ensure compliance with deadlines, now extended to November 30.

Parents:
>> Provide consent for data sharing.
>> Verify Aadhaar details for accuracy.
>> Engage with schools to understand APAAR's benefits and address concerns.

APAAR registration process
1. Verification: Visit the school to confirm demographic details.
2. Parental Consent: Secure consent for minors.
3. Authentication: Identity is verified through the school.
4. ID Creation: APAAR ID is generated and linked to DigiLocker.