Bengaluru schools are grappling with the rollout of Apaar (Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry), a 12-digit unique ID for students introduced by the Ministry of Education under the 2020 National Education Policy (NEP). Designed to track students’ academic achievements, Apaar aims to simplify school transfers and facilitate access to government benefits.
Over 20.3 lakh students have registered for Apaar in Karnataka in the last month. However, schools are facing hurdles due to the labor-intensive registration process. While student data is already entered into the Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS), the lack of system integration means schools must manually re-enter all details to generate Apaar IDs.
“This duplication is overwhelming for staff, taking away time from teaching,” said D Shashi Kumar, secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka. A school principal echoed concerns, noting many parents are hesitant to provide personal details. Schools have resorted to collecting written refusals from parents to submit to education officials.
Apaar registration requires both the student’s and a parent’s government ID, often Aadhaar. The pressure to link Aadhaar has led to overcrowded BangaloreOne centres, with families waiting hours to obtain ID cards. “Schools insist Aadhaar is mandatory for admission or transfer certificates, which has created chaos,” said a parent.
As administrative demands pile up, schools are calling for better integration of existing systems and relief from the pressure imposed by local education authorities.
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