Parents concerned as APAAR ID consent form requires students’ personal information

The unique student identity system is part of the central government’s ambitious “One National, One Student” project. These IDs are designed to track students’ educational progress, achievements, and personal details

Mumbai: Parents have raised concerns about the consent forms of the new Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) student identity system as it requests that parents grant access to students’ personal information, including their name, address, age, date of birth, gender, and photograph, to educational institutions and recruitment agencies. The state has mandated that schools seek parental consent for the creation of APAAR IDs.

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The unique student identity system is part of the central government’s ambitious “One National, One Student” project. These IDs are designed to track students’ educational progress, achievements, and personal details.

Parents have also pointed out that there is no option to deny consent on the form as well as the data-sharing terms. Schools are also grappling with the uncertainty of how to proceed if a parent refuses to complete the form.

The consent form reads, “I am also aware that my personally identifiable information (name, address, age, date of birth, gender, and photograph) may be made available to entities engaged in various educational activities, such as the UDISE+ database, scholarships, maintenance of academic records, and other stakeholders like educational institutions and recruitment agencies.”

Raising their concern, parents and teachers are demanding that an option to reject sharing the data should be given in the form. Sulabha Chavan, a parent-teacher association member (PTA) of a Mulund-based school, said, “The school has informed me that the form says I have voluntarily consented to share my Aadhaar number and APAAR. There is no option of rejecting this consent. The school has conducted a PTA meeting and is trying to address our concerns.”

Taking Chavan’s point, Anubha Sahay, president of the India Wide Parents Association, said, “Taking consent from parents to share details of the child with other stakeholders and recruitment firms is wrong.”

Furthermore, teachers across the state are expressing resistance to the additional administrative workload associated with the APAAR system.

Subhash More, president of Shikshak Bharti, emphasised that continuous additions of new tasks could turn teachers into data entry operators. He questioned the necessity of collecting new data, stating, “Details of every student are already available on UDISE; then, why is new data required? This only places an additional burden on teachers.”