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Government's insistence on Aadhaar card for portal registration plays havoc with students

Aug 16, 2024 09:22 AM IST

Despite an SC order, the Centre's 2021 policy mandates a birth certificate for Aadhaar, affecting rural students' registration in UDISE+ and access to benefits

Mumbai: A teacher from a village in western Maharashtra and a principal in Mumbai are both confronted with the same predicament: they are unable to submit the Aadhaar details of some of their students in order to get them registered on the central education ministry’s Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+). Reason: these students from economically weaker or backward sections lack birth certificates, which is a prerequisite to get an Aadhaar card.

Thane, India - April 21, 2022: Children wait for the completion of RTE Admission 2022-23 procedures as the Maharashtra School Education and Sports Department have started accepting applications for admissions of students in private schools under the Right To Education or RTE Act for the upcoming academic session, in Thane, Mumbai, India, on Thursday, April 21, 2022. (Praful Gangurde/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)
Thane, India - April 21, 2022: Children wait for the completion of RTE Admission 2022-23 procedures as the Maharashtra School Education and Sports Department have started accepting applications for admissions of students in private schools under the Right To Education or RTE Act for the upcoming academic session, in Thane, Mumbai, India, on Thursday, April 21, 2022. (Praful Gangurde/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

Despite the Supreme Court keeping children out of the ambit of Aadhaar in its September 26, 2018 judgement, around 1.60 lakh students across the state are not linked with UDISE+ for want of an Aadhaar card. Because of this, they cannot avail of benefits such as central government scholarships and uniforms.

The culprit here is the policy change introduced by the Centre in 2021, which necessitates a birth certificate for Aadhaar registration. This, teachers say, has affected students who do not possess birth certificates, especially in rural areas. They want the government to accept letters from school principals instead, as many rural children have no idea of their birth date or place.

REAL PROBLEMS

A teacher from a village in western Maharashtra recounted a story of two girls he had got into the education groove only to be stymied later by the government’s policy change. Their father was an alcoholic and the children were left in the care of their grandparents, also alcoholics, after their mother died by suicide. “Only the elder daughter, Kajal, had been named. When I asked the girls if they wanted to go to school, Kajal and her sister were both eager,” he said.

The teacher got them a haircut, and the next day, they were given new notebooks and pencils. Since then, both girls have not missed a single day at school. “But now a new problem has arisen—they don’t have birth certificates,” he said. “Without one, they cannot obtain an Aadhaar card which is essential for school records. And if we fail to register them on the portal, the student is not found on record.”

The teacher’s struggle resonated with Jagdish Indalkar, principal of Mumbai’s MP Butha Sion Sarvajanik School, who has been unable to register 13 students who do not have an Aadhaar card. “Since the Aadhaar registration policy was changed in 2021, teachers’ associations have been writing to the government, but no one is taking notice,” he said. “In the last two years, we have somehow managed to register some Aadhaar cards but now it is impossible. Instead of teaching in the classroom, I have been running from the gram panchayat to the panchayat samiti and tehsil to get their birth certificates.”

TWEAK IN POLICY

Pre-2021, documents like a certificate signed by the principal were accepted. A birth certificate as a mandatory document to issue a new Aadhaar card is causing significant problems for schools.

Bhausaheb Chaskar, a teacher-activist, said there were several communities in Maharashtra that migrated from one district or state to another. “Most of them don’t have records of their children’s birth. How will they get a birth certificate?” he questioned.

Chaskar added that communities like the Bhils, denotified tribes and other Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Nomadic Tribes (NT) were still not fully integrated into the education system. “Although these children are admitted to schools under the Right To Education (RTE) act, without an Aadhaar card their enrollment is not recorded on the UDISE+ portal,” he said. “Consequently, the government doesn’t officially recognise them, leading to a cutting down of teachers’ posts, which impacts the quality of education. As per the RTE Act, there should be one teacher for every 30 students.”

Ahmednagar-based educationist Kishore Darak questioned the legality of the policy. “Mandating Aadhaar for teacher allotment is preposterous, unjust and a deliberate violation of the Supreme Court judgement,” he said. “In 2018, the SC held that Aadhaar could not be insisted on for admission to school as ‘it is neither a service nor a subsidy’.”

Darak added that admitting students but invisiblising them for teacher allotment or other entitlements clearly showed the state’s disregard for RTE and its moral degradation. “The state’s inveterate violation of the RTE act, evident in many of its decisions, raises serious concerns,” he said. “Recently, the Bombay high court quashed one such decision. The SC should take suo motu cognisance of orders mandating Aadhaar, and restrain the state from violating the RTE and committing contempt of court.”

Vijay Kombay, state president of the Maharashtra State Primary Teachers Committee, pointed out that there were many students who weren’t even given a proper name before their schooling. “How can they have Aadhaar cards?” he questioned. “Doing documentation every year wastes a lot of teachers’ time. We are constantly following up with the government without any proper response. The Aadhaar authority should consider accepting a bonafide certificate signed by the school principal as official evidence.”

An official from the education commissioner’s office pointed out that it was not possible to change the Aadhaar policy since it was decided by the central government. “While teachers are urging us to communicate these issues to the central government, it is not within our power to do so,” he said.

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