School principal goes out of his way to help kids get UID

While many students, young and old, run at the sight of the school principal, students at a Mulund school jump for joy when they see their principal approaching their home. After the state government issued a circular making it mandatory for school students to have a Unique Identification Number (UID), Maruti Sable (40), school principal at G V Municipal School, Mulund, is leading the way to make certain his students get the Aadhar card.

All in a day's work: Principal Maruti Sable of G V Municipal School explains the registration process for the Aadhar card to a student

To ensure his students register for the Aadhar card, Sable has been issuing bona fide certificates to students who do not have the required identification documents, so that there are no hiccups.

So far, the school has issued 20 certificates at the Marathi-medium school. "The government has made it compulsory for school students to have the Aadhar card, and in our school there are students who don't have residential proof, as some of them stay on rent and cannot submit the required identity proof.

Hence, along with a class teacher, I visit the homes of our students and verify their current residential address and if possible collect any documents like electricity bill or ration card and issue them a bona fide certificate. These certificates are sent to the local centre where Aadhar cards are issued along with the photograph of the students. At times, we even click pictures of students who don't have passport size photographs," said Sable.

The civic-run school has Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi medium in one building. The task is right now being undertaken at the Marathi-medium, which has 185 students.

Explaining the intricacies of the scheme, Dr Santosh Bhogle, under secretary state government, IT department, said, "If any person does not have any identity proof to submit at the centre, then the government has come up with a new initiative called introducer process. For instance, If person ‘A' knows that person ‘B' person doesn't have an identity proof, person ‘A" can submit his/her Aadhar card number to the Aadhar centre to facilitate person ‘B' in securing the Aadhar card."

"There are around 12 to 14 crore people in our country that do not have any proof of identity. It's good that the school principal is issuing the bona fide certificate to his students, but even he or any school authority will have to provide their card number to the Aadhar centre."u00a0