Supreme Court Ruling: Parental Consent Mandatory for APAAR ID

The Supreme Court has delivered a strict decision regarding APAAR ID. The court says that no school can create a child’s APAAR ID on its own. Parental consent is necessary for this.

Parents from Bhubaneswar filed a petition

Parents Rohit Anand Das, whose children study in a private school in Bhubaneswar, were asked for consent to create APAAR ID. The consent form had no option to refuse or accept. Against this, the parents filed a petition in the Odisha High Court.

There should also be a right to refuse beforehand

The government is calling APAAR ID voluntary, but there is no option to refuse in the consent form. Sharing Aadhaar and other personal information can affect privacy. Only having the option to withdraw consent later is not sufficient. There should also be a right to refuse beforehand.

Government’s decision in favor of parents

The Central and State Government told the court that APAAR ID is completely voluntary. Parents can refuse consent if they wish and can also withdraw consent later. In many cases of APAAR ID, information such as student’s height, weight can also be recorded. This is why parental consent has been made mandatory for minor students.

Students’ Rights Will Not Be Affected

The petition also demanded that if a student does not get an APAAR ID made, they should not be kept away from admission, exam registration, marksheet, certificate or any other academic facility.

APAAR ID is a 12-Digit Student Identification

APAAR ID (Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry) is a 12-digit permanent digital student identity (Student ID) given to every student under the Government of India’s ‘One Nation, One Student ID’ initiative.

It has been developed in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the concept of Academic Bank of Credits (ABC). Its objective is to securely maintain a student’s entire academic record on a single digital platform.

Government’s Claim – Scheme in Students’ Interest

The government and CBSE say that APAAR ID has been created for the convenience of students. Its purpose is to keep students’ complete academic records secure on a single digital platform so that they don’t have to submit documents repeatedly in the future. The government claims that this scheme is entirely in the interest of students and will make the education system more transparent and easier.

Risk of data leak may increase

Petitioners and several experts have also expressed some serious concerns about this scheme. They say that such a large digital data of children being collected in one place may increase the risk of data leaks.

If data is misused for any reason, children’s privacy could be affected. Additionally, many parents say that if APAAR ID is made mandatory, children without the ID may face difficulties in education and examinations.