All Delhi schools — government, government-aided and private — have been asked to collect Aadhaar details of their students, according to a government circular issued on Tuesday.
The Delhi government’s Directorate of Education issued the circular to heads of all schools to collect “comprehensive data” of their students. Apart from Aadhaar details, the students’ present and permanent addresses, their parents/guardians and siblings’ Aadhaar, voter ID details, and educational qualifications have also been sought.
“Purpose of the collecting information and documents from students studying in Delhi Schools is to create a DATA BANK of the students of Delhi to analyze the information so collected for various purposes of the department (sic),” the circular said.
The schools were given a pro forma to be used by teachers to collect the data within 10 working days of receiving the circular. An external agency has been engaged to verify, digitise and analyse the details, the circular said.
Govt.’s reply
When asked why the information was being collected, Director of Education Sanjay Goel said on Wednesday the government had undertaken a study of two east Delhi schools recently and found that 60% of students in one and 50% in the other were residents of a neighbouring State. He added that the data collection was being done to see how many students enrolled in Delhi schools were residents of other States.
“This will guide our policies in the future,” he said.
Reacting to the circular, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said that the AAP government was violating the right to privacy of the students and their families.
