APAAR ID (Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry) for School Students

Context: Parents and activists fear that opting out of the Education Ministry’s APAAR ID for school students could become nearly impossible, despite enrolment being officially voluntary.

About APAAR ID

• Initiative By: Ministry of Education.
• Introduced Under: National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Key Features

• Lifelong Academic Identity: Each student gets a unique 12-digit ID.
• Centralized System: Manages academic records in one place.
• Credit Transfer: Facilitates the transfer of credits between institutions
• Lifelong Identity: Stays with the student throughout their educational and professional career
• Additionally, it has features to; Preserve student achievements, streamline credit recognition, Enhance educational flexibility & Credit transfer across institutions.

Registration Process

• Parental Consent: Due to the sensitive nature of personal data involved, parental consent is required for students below 18 years of age.
  • Parents can obtain and submit the consent form through their child’s school or the official APAAR website.
• Student Registration: Students need to register on the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) portal by creating an account on DigiLocker, and providing their Aadhaar number and other necessary details.
• APAAR ID Generation: Upon successful registration and verification, the system generates the unique 12-digit APAAR ID, which is then linked to the student’s DigiLocker account for secure access.

Concerns Over APAAR ID Implementation

Voluntary vs. Implied Mandate

• While the Ministry of Education states that APAAR ID enrolment is voluntary, a January circular from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) instructed schools to ensure “100% saturation” of APAAR IDs for all students.
• This directive has been interpreted by many schools as a mandate, raising concerns about whether opting out is truly possible.

Data Privacy and Security Issues

The APAAR ID system links to Aadhaar and stores sensitive personal and academic data.

• Advocacy groups like the Internet Freedom Foundation have warned about the lack of robust data protection measures for minors’ information.
• There is currently no legal framework mandating APAAR IDs, which raises questions about data security and consent.

Challenges in Aadhaar Linking

• Some parents have faced issues linking their child’s Aadhaar to APAAR due to spelling mismatches between school records and the UIDAI database.
• CBSE has advised schools to direct such parents to Common Service Centres for document correction, adding to the enrolment burden.

Way Forward

• Ensure Clear Voluntary Consent: The Education Ministry should issue a formal directive clarifying that APAAR ID enrolment is voluntary and prohibit schools from enforcing it as mandatory.
• Strengthen Data Privacy Protections: Introduce a legal framework to safeguard students’ sensitive data, ensuring transparency, consent, and accountability in data collection and usage.
• Simplify Aadhaar Linking Process: Provide support for resolving Aadhaar mismatches directly at schools or through online platforms to reduce the burden on parents.

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