AUTOMATED PERMANENT ACADEMIC ACCOUNT REGISTRY (APAAR)
WHY IN NEWS?
- Recently, several state governments requested schools to seek parental consent for the creation of a new student identity card known as the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR).
WHAT IS APAAR?
- The Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR), dubbed as ‘One Nation, One Student ID’, is an Education Ecosystem Registry or an ‘EduLocker’.
- This is part of the ‘One nation, One Student ID’ initiative of the Union government, stemming from the new National Education Policy of 2020.
- The unique 12-digit APAAR ID will be used for admissions and other academic activities, making it convenient for students.
- APAAR, which stands for Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry, is envisioned as a special ID system for all students in India, starting from childhood. Under the initiative, each student would get a lifelong APAAR ID, making it easy for the learners, schools, and governments to track academic progress from pre-primary education to higher education.
AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF APAAR:
- Every individual will have a unique APAAR ID, which will be linked to the Academic Bank Credit (ABC).
- Academic bank credit is a digital storehouse that contains information of the credits earned by students throughout their learning journey.
- With the APAAR ID, students would be able to store all their certificates and credits, whether they come from formal education or informal learning.
- When a student completes a course or achieves something, it’s digitally certified and securely stored in her account by authorised institutions.
WHAT IS THE ENROLLMENT PROCESS?
- The enrolment process will be carried out by the school, with the consent of their parents, who will also be able to withdraw their consent at any given point in time.
- To sign up for APAAR, students will have to provide basic information such as name, age, date of birth, gender, and a photograph.
- This information will be verified using their Aadhar number.
- The government assured that the data will be shared only with concerned government agencies if and when required.
- The data collected on each student by the schools will be stored in a centrally functioning District Information for Education portal.
BENEFITS OF APAAR:
- APAAR aims to reduce fraud and duplicate educational certificates by providing a single, trusted reference for educational institutions.
- The vision is to create a positive change, allowing state governments to track literacy rates, dropout rates, and more, helping them make improvements.
- The goal behind introducing APAAR is to make education hassle-free and reduce the need for students to carry physical documents.
- The APAAR-ID will be a gateway for accessing the Digilocker ecosystems.
- It will also allow students digitally store all achievements like exam results, holistic report card, learning outcomes besides achievements in sports and skill training etc.
- Only first party sources that issue certificates will be allowed to deposit credits into the system, ensuring authenticity.
CONCERNS REGARDING APAAR:
- Parents and students have concerns about sharing their Aadhar details because they worry that their personal information could be leaked to outside parties.
- The government, however, says that the information shared by students will be kept confidential and will not be shared with any third party.
- On the other hand, school authorities have raised the issue of already pending Aadhaar verification of students, which is kept optional.
- The information will be shared with for entities engaged in educational activities, such as the UDISE+ database (the government’s catalogue that contains data related to schools, teachers and students), scholarships, maintenance academic records, educational institutions and recruitment agencies.
WAY FORWARD:
- Streamlining administrative procedures in schools is essential for harnessing the benefits of initiative.
SYLLABUS: GS-1, EDUCATION
SOURCE: THE INDIAN EXPRESS