Even as some private schools are forcing students from classes LKG to Plus-Two to furnish Aadhaar card numbers for inclusion in the database of the Department of School Education, the officials here have clarified that this was only optional.
A parent of two girls studying in Standards I and IV in a city school said that the school was asking the children to furnish the Aadhaar numbers.
He said that he had shifted his house from Ganapathy to Rathinapuri a few months ago. While he had an Aadhaar card containing details of his earlier address, he was not successful in updating the change of address despite several attempts to do so with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
Further, he was issued an older version of the card without details such as National Population Registry numbers.
Also, the schools were asking the details even for Standard I students.
Chief Educational Officer A. Gnanagowri told The Hindu here on Tuesday that the schools have only been instructed to collect the Aadhaar card numbers from those students who have it. The data would be entered into the Education Management Information System (EMIS).
“Providing the data will only benefit the student in the long run. Further, this database will be used by the policy makers and hence, it was vital to include all data,” she added. An official overseeing the EMIS project said that plans were afoot to link the School Education Department database with the UIDAI database.
This will help both sides to verify their data and address inconsistencies.
Launched last academic year, the EMIS was a comprehensive database which will eventually contain profiles of teachers and students in private and Government schools in Tamil Nadu.
Smart cards containing data ranging from family details to blood group would be issued to all students.
The Supreme Court, on September 23, 2013, ruled that that no citizen should be denied benefits for non-possession of the Aadhaar Card.
