According to authorities, the government plans to extend its one-nation, one-student ID effort to schools shortly in order to enable seamless integration with higher education, as envisioned in the National Education Policy 2020.
Students will be given an Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) card with a 12-digit unique ID as part of the program. The Centre has initiated the effort in higher education, with over 22 million students currently receiving APAAR IDs.
APAAR, an Aadhaar-verified ID, serves as a portal to students’ academic bank of credit (ABC), a digital credit repository. It is also used to get access to Digilocker, a digital locker where students may save critical documents such as mark sheets and certificates. APAAR will eventually be a lifetime ID for students from pre-primary to PhD.
It is not required of the states to undertake any initiatives under the NEP 2020 because education is a state concern.
According to Anil Sahasrabuddhe, head of the National Educational Technology Forum, a division under the education ministry, discussions have begun with several state governments on the implementation of the one nation, one student ID program in schools.
“It is going to make things easier for students, schools and the entire education system. It will help them to track academic progress of students from pre-primary education to higher education. It will also help those students whose parents are in transferable jobs,” Sahasrabuddhe said. “In case they change their schools in the middle of a session, the other school can access their progress by logging in to their ABC account using the unique ID.”
For the first time this year, the federal government has implemented a national credit framework (NCrF), which includes school and vocational education. Students will earn credits at school that will be saved in their ABC accounts under NCrF.
Experts praised the action while cautioning about privacy concerns. “The envisioned one-nation, one-ID system for school students offers a promising opportunity for streamlining administrative procedures, improving data accuracy, and optimizing resource allocation in the education sector.”
This centralized approach has the potential to eliminate redundancy and improve the overall efficiency of student-related activities, according to Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School. “While acknowledging these benefits, it is imperative to vigilantly address potential risks related to data security and privacy.”
Since APAAR is an Aadhaar-verified system, schools will have to obtain consent from parents, Sahasrabuddhe added. “It is because school students are minors, unlike colleges where students can give consent on their own. Students’ data will remain confidential. It is just to verify that authenticity. We may create a system where the students’ details can be uploaded and e-KYC can be done,” he said.
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Source: HT
