APAAR ID for School Students: Concerns and Mandates

  • March 13, 2025
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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APAAR ID for School Students: Concerns and Mandates

Sub: Schemes

Sec: Education

Context:

  • The Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) has initiated the issuance of 12-digit Automatic Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) unique Identity Cards (IDs) for all government, aided, and private school children.
  • It is modeled after Aadhaar and integrates with DigiLocker and the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) to standardize school transcripts as a “single source of truth.”

Concerns Over Voluntary Nature and Growing Mandates

  • The Ministry of Education states that APAAR ID enrolment is voluntary.
  • However, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), in a January 2025 circular, directed schools to ensure “100% saturation”, leading many schools to treat it as mandatory.

Data Privacy and Legal Concerns

  • Linking with Aadhaar:
    • APAAR IDs are linked to Aadhaar, causing enrolment issues due to spelling mismatches between school records and the UIDAI database.
    • CBSE has instructed affected parents to visit Common Service Centres for updates.
  • Lack of Legal Framework:
    • The Education Ministry admits that there is no law mandating APAAR IDs.
    • The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) and Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC) have raised concerns over the collection and handling of minors’ data without adequate legal safeguards or data protection measures.

State-Level Enforcement and Coercion

  • Uttar Pradesh has begun using APAAR for detecting discrepancies in school enrolment records.
  • Madrasas in Bahraich district were warned of de-recognition if they failed to enrol students under APAAR.
  • Uttar Pradesh officials have not responded to concerns regarding this enforcement.

Legal Challenges and Supreme Court Ruling

  • Justice (Retd.) K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2019):
    • The Supreme Court ruled that Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory for accessing basic education.
    • APAAR ID, requiring Aadhaar linkage, contradicts this ruling.
  • Data Protection Act, 2023 (Section 6(1)):
    • Consent for data collection must be free, specific, informed, and unambiguous.
    • APAAR implementation through institutional coercion undermines informed voluntary consent.

Conclusion

  • While APAAR aims to create a standardized academic record, concerns remain over coercive implementation, data privacy, and legal safeguards.
  • Activists argue that pressuring schools and parents into enrolling students undermines voluntary choice and privacy rights.

 

APAAR ID for School Students: Concerns and Mandates Schemes