The APAAR ID system is voluntary, but activists and parents are concerned about its growing mandates.

The Education Ministry’s Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) ID for school students is causing concerns among parents and activists.

• The ID is linked to DigiLocker and the Academic Bank of Credits, which the government aims to use to standardize students’ school transcripts.

• The APAAR ID system has been criticized for its data privacy and necessity grounds.

• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has mandated schools to ensure 100% saturation of APAAR IDs for all students.

• Some parents have reported issues linking students’ Aadhaar with APAAR due to spelling mismatches between their name in school records and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) database.

• The Internet Freedom Foundation and Software Freedom Law Centre have criticized the APAAR ID system for its potential risks in handling sensitive data.

• The Education Ministry admits that there is no law mandating APAAR IDs for parents who do not want to enroll their children in the registry.

• The Software Freedom Law Centre has published a form for parents to inform schools that APAAR is not mandatory.