Karnataka’s Department of Primary and Secondary Education has decided to make Aadhaar enrolment mandatory for all students in government, aided and private unaided schools, and Pre-University colleges, for ‘efficient’ delivery of government incentives such as uniforms, textbooks, cycles and scholarships.
The State will issue regulations under the Karnataka Education Act, 1983, making Aadhaar mandatory. Besides this, the Commissioner for Public Instruction will be asked to coordinate with authorities of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) to ensure that schools affiliated to these boards also fall in line.
Ajay Seth, Principal Secretary, Department of Primary and Secondary Education, said around 65 lakh out of the total one crore students already are enrolled under Aadhaar. “For the remaining students we plan to send teams to schools, colleges and hostels in rural areas. Those in urban areas will coordinate with E-Governance department to ensure that we reach 100 per cent Aadhaar enrolment by the end of this academic year,” he said.
After ensuring 100 per cent enrolment, the department plans to link the Aadhaar number at several levels that include board examination at class ten and PU level for scholarships and as part of the student achievement tracking system. “This would ensure that duplicates are weeded out. For instance currently there are some students who are enrolled in government schools as well as private schools, so that they can get benefits such as uniforms and textbooks. Clearly they are going to just one school and this would help us track this,” a departmental official said. Linking Aadhaar, officials point out, would help monitor admissions and attendance, as well as to ensure that a child completes elementary education.
