Confusion and Chaos impacting APAAR ID Initiative

The Union Education Ministry on its website has laid down the features and benefits of the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR ID) which is a part of the 'One Nation, One Student ID' program launched by the government, aligning with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. As mentioned on the website the APAAR ID - a unique 12-digit code will help students to digitally store, manage, and access all their academic credits, including score card, marksheet, grade sheet, degrees, diplomas, certificates and co-curricular accomplishments. This ID will work as a permanent digital identity for the student in the education ecosystem.

The government has emphasised that APAAR ID will ensure accountability and transparency in education by tracking student progress and streamlining academic records. It will enhance efficiency, removes duplicity, minimizes fraud, and includes co-curricular achievements for holistic student development.  The APAAR ID is linked to Aadhaar and stored in the DigiLocker and is generated through the United District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) portal.

The government has highlighted the advantage of having an APAAR ID but the question arises is that is APAAR mandatory? In January the education ministry in its response to an RTI filed by Software Freedom Law Centre in December last year clearly stated that APAAR has not been made mandatory by the central government for any child in any kind of school and is being created only with the consent of the parent.

However, parents are concerned about the rapid push by schools to generate an APAAR ID and are questioning the need of the ID. Although APAAR is voluntary still students are being forced to enrol in it. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in January had issued a notice regarding the implementation of APAAR ID as the primary identifier for students in schools affiliated to it.  The notice was addressed to principals or heads of the schools.

“In our country we have about 1.5 million schools and I don’t think that the procedure to create APAAR ID can be carried out smoothly. There are many issues which are being faced by schools in generating APAAR ID. For example, in our school sometimes there is some technical glitch while some mismatch occurs in details of students etc, said Ekta Gupta, headmistress at Modern Public School, Delhi and also a parent.

“I personally don’t think APAAR will benefit students in any way. It’s been so many years we have been managing our documents very smoothly. There is more responsibility and ownership on the student to maintain the hard copies of their certificates and records and if everything is being stored digitally what responsibility a child will hold,” she stated.

“As a parent I was also very hesitant to give the details for APAAR. This is not compulsory. There are safety issues as all the personal details and documents of your child are being digitalised,” she pointed out.

On asking why schools are forcing parents to fill the consent form for APAAR ID creation to which Ekta replied, “Schools cannot be held responsible for certain decisions. We need to follow circulars and have to work according to that.”

Since the APAAR ID has been launched schools across the country are facing hurdles in completing the registration process. Mismatch between school details and Aadhar details of several students is one of the most common issues coming in front of schools.  According to a media report dated (February 23, 2025) creating APAAR Id became a herculean task for schools in Hyderabad due to mismatch in details. Parents also raised concerns regarding privacy. Last year in December schools in Kolhapur, Maharashtra were served with notice from the Kolhapur district education officer warning them to complete the registration process otherwise their salaries will not be released and the unaided schools will lose the recognition. Schools across the state were facing pressure from the district officials to achieve 100 percent target in APAAR generation. Teachers had pointed out that technical glitches and getting parental consent are the some of the major challenges they are dealing with.  Similar kind of issues are also being reported by schools in Gujarat, Karnataka, Delhi etc.

“The government may say that it is voluntary to give details for APAAR ID but under the garb of this voluntary thing the government has already made that mandatory by sending official circulars to schools and of course they have to collect the details because they are doing their job. My daughter was being harassed for not getting signed the parental consent form and in the end she herself submitted the form by using my signature because she was facing pressure from the school,” said Manoj Sharma, advocate and also vice-president of Delhi Parents Association.

All your personal details are being shared which is harmful. The government has already all the data. My Aadhar is linked with my Pan and my Pan is linked with voter id, till where you can be saved?” he expressed.

“There is nothing wrong with this initiative until and unless it is benefitting the children but there are people who don’t have documents which are required then they can be affected. The deprived section of the society will suffer. There are migrant labourers who don’t have Aadhar.  The government must first address such issues, said Ashok Aggarwal, advocate and education activist.

While some parents believe that it is a good initiative if executed properly in a hassle- free manner. “If the execution is done in the right manner where there is no leakage of data, then I think the concept is very good, said a parent. However, the parent felt that the language of the consent form is quite ambiguous.   

“The main issue is that most of the children does not have Aadhar card and there is mismatch in details. While the merit of APAAR ID is that it will maintain the educational journey of a student and will also keep a check on the dropout rate,” said Shubham who works in the education department of a school in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.

The government claims that APAAR ID is a single source of truth. It will streamline authentication for transfers, entrance examinations, admissions or job applications, simplifying the verification of academic records but it first must address the questions and confusions regarding the ID. The first issue is the lack of documents needed for APAAR ID specially Aadhar card.

Most of the children specially the underprivileged ones do not hold Aadhar card so how the govt is planning to address this? The second issue is mismatch between school details and Aadhar details, how this can be resolved and the third major question is APAAR mandatory? If it is not then why the schools are pushed to generate APAAR IDs.