The smart card system is currently being implemented in five government higher secondary schools in Tiruchi district, with cards having been issued to 2,589 children. The schools are in Ettarai, Inamkulathur, Somarasampettai, Ayilapettai, and Tiruchendurai.
Soon, another 1,640 children in these schools would get the facility. The scheme would be extended to all schools later.
“The data has been collected for the 4,89,679 school students in the district and the process of issuing the cards is currently in progress,” said K. Selvakumar, chief educational officer, Tiruchi district.
The smart card contains all details about a child, with a total of 30 characteristics including name, gender, names of family members, address, date of birth, admission details, class, medium of instruction, pass percentage, religion, community, and mother tongue.
The objective of introducing such a system is to track and monitor the number of children being educated in government and government-aided schools in the State. An advantage of this system is it prevents duplication of data by manipulating the number of children. The smart cards would help in identification of the beneficiaries of various government schemes, such as the distribution of laptops.
Details in the smart cards will be stored in a database, which will be in public domain on the website of the Tamil Nadu School Education Department.
