Now, Aadhaar card mandatory for all U.P. govt primary, upper primary students
According to officials, the move will bring about transparency and enable beneficiaries to get their entitlements directly in a convenient and seamless manner
In a bid to ensure transparency, the basic education department has made having Aadhaar card mandatory for both newly enrolled and old students who are already studying in government primary and upper primary schools in Uttar Pradesh.
As of now, 1.88 crore children are studying in 1.3 lakh government primary and upper primary schools in 75 districts of the state. The state government targets to connect about 2 crore children aged 6- 14 years with its “School Chalo” campaign in 2022-23 academic year.
“To weed out all kind of possibilities of any fake students, the basic education department has decided to make Aadhaar card mandatory for 1.88 crore students who are enrolled in 1.3 lakh government schools,” said director general, school education, Vijay Kiran Anand.
“Presently, more than 50% students have their Aadhaar cards. We are in the process of facilitating remaining 50% students to get their Aadhaar cards. The authentication has been made compulsory so that department has exact numbers of students enrolled in the government schools,” he added.
Until last year, Aadhaar card was mandatory for guardians. Now it has been made a must for every student. According to officials, the move will bring about transparency and enable beneficiaries to get their entitlements directly in a convenient and seamless manner as Aadhaar card obviates the need for producing multiple documents to prove identity.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its report on general and social sector for the year ending on March 31, 2016, had noted several anomalies in students’ enrolment in government schools. It noted that on an average, 20 lakh children dropped out of schools per year between 2011 and 2016.
However, as per the data provided by the state government, the average dropout rate was 0.63 lakh children pear year only during the said period. To plug all such malpractices, the HRD ministry had in 2017 issued a notification in this regard that said it will now be required for the students to have Aadhaar number for getting their mid-day meals across the country.
“The use of Aadhaar as identity document for delivery of services, benefits or subsidies simplifies the government delivery process and enables beneficiaries to get their entitlements directly and in a seamless manner,” reads the notification.
In recent times, U.P. Board has made Aadhaar card mandatory for students and it helped in checking fake candidates. As a result, the number of candidates had come down to 52 lakh this year from 60 lakh in 2017, an official said.
“Both central and state governments have been trying to link the Aadhaar number with subsidy schemes related to school education,” an official said.
