As schools reopened this year in Assam, Rajasthan and Chandigarh, parents received an unusual request: register their children for a new digital identification system, the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry, commonly known as APAAR.
What started as a recommendation in India's National Education Policy 2020 for tracking university credits has now expanded into an ambitious national ID system for school students. While the government promotes it as a tool for educational progress, experts worry about privacy risks and implementation challenges.
According to the APAAR website, the system “empowers students to accumulate and store their academic accomplishments, facilitating seamless transitions between institutions for the pursuit of further education”.
However, the official website lacks specific information about the personnel managing the programme but states that APAAR is supported by the Digital India Corporation and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
How does APAAR work?
The system assigns each student a 12-digit identification number, similar to Aadhaar, India's biometric ID system. Students must provide their Aadhaar numbers to generate their APAAR IDs, which then become digital passports to their academic records.
According to the government, APAAR will store everything from exam results to sports achievements, creating a comprehensive digital record of a student's academic journey. The system promises to make school transfers easier and help track student progress.
Consent and Privacy Concerns
Although the APAAR registration form claims that parental consent is voluntary, there are reports that some schools have made the registration mandatory, setting strict deadlines for parents to sign up.
In October 2023, the Union government requested states and union territories to obtain parental consent to generate APAAR numbers using each student's Aadhaar number. The communication assured that data would remain confidential, with Aadhaar numbers masked when shared with other government users.
However, experts have voiced consent and privacy concerns around the new government ID.
Dhruv Garg, a tech lawyer with the Indian Governance and Policy Project, warned of fundamental issues with the consent process. "Consent must be truly voluntary, allowing parents to make informed choices about their children's data. Current practices raise concerns about whether parents receive enough information or feel pressured by schools, undermining genuine consent," he said.
The implementation also faces scrutiny under India's new Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act. Vaishnavi Sharma, a research associate at The Dialogue, pointed out that while the DPDP Act requires data fiduciaries, including the government, to obtain "verifiable parental consent" before processing children’s data, the rules for implementing this requirement remain unclear.
“Until the relevant rules are published, it is difficult to determine if the current consent forms for APAAR IDs meet the Act’s requirements,” she said.
A Data Fiduciary refers to any entity—whether an organisation, company, or individual—that collects, manages, and protects personal data while complying with privacy laws.
Sharma further emphasised the importance of properly administering consent forms, stating, “Parents or guardians must be fully informed about the purposes for which their child’s data is collected, for the consent to be deemed 'free, specific, and informed', as required by the Act."
It is important to note that this consent should ideally be given freely, without any coercion or undue influence.
Even once the rules under the DPDP are finalised and the Act comes into effect, concerns about data security under APAAR will remain.
“While the Act aims to safeguard children's personal data, it allows the government to exempt certain Data Fiduciaries from these rules, raising concerns about possible self-exemptions,” Sharma remarked.
Risks of Exploitation and Inequity
Beyond privacy concerns, experts worry about digital literacy gaps and potential exploitation. Tech lawyer Garg stressed that the government must address digital literacy and access gaps to ensure APAAR benefits students across all demographics. “Students from rural or marginalised communities may struggle to understand the impact of data sharing, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation,” he said.
Garg also cautioned against the risk of unauthorised use of APAAR data. “To prevent misuse, the system must align with the DPDP Act to ensure that private entities, such as ed-tech firms or advertisers, cannot exploit student data for commercial gain,” he added.
The rollout of APAAR highlights the potential for streamlined education tracking and admissions, but it also raises significant concerns around consent, privacy, and equity. As the programme expands, transparency and strict safeguards would be essential to protect student’s data and ensure parents are truly empowered to make informed decisions.
But is APAAR the need of the hour?
Education activist Gourav Jaiswal questioned whether APAAR should be a priority given India's current educational challenges. "Even today, many government schools rely on contractual teachers, and several teaching posts remain vacant due to insufficient funding for education. Now, the same limited resources will also have to accommodate the APAAR scheme," he noted.
Jaiswal referred to the Kothari Commission Report (1964-66), also known as the Education Commission Report, which made key recommendations on education funding. The Commission suggested that public spending on education should progressively rise to 6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, Jaiswal pointed out that most Indian states seldom adhere to this recommendation.
He further argued that APAAR's goal of tracking and reducing dropout rates in schools may not serve much purpose, as many district and block education offices already collect this data in several states. “Moreover, this isn't dynamic data that changes by the second. If the government aims to monitor dropout rates, they only need an annual statistic,” he explained.
According to Jaiswal, APAAR might be part of a larger push toward education privatisation. "Before a system can be privatised, it must first be made 'privatisable', making it appealing for private takers while also creating avenues for revenue generation," he said, drawing parallels with India's railway modernisation efforts.
“Take, for example, trains—an unmaintained, government-run service through villages may not attract private investors. However, a service like Vande Bharat, which is reasonably priced and consumer-friendly, is more likely to draw private interest,” he said.
Jaiswal pointed to an ongoing trend where states are closing smaller neighborhood government schools in favor of centralised larger institutions, a move he sees as aligned with privatisation efforts.
While the government promotes APAAR as a tool for educational advancement, critics argue that without proper safeguards and considerations for equity, it might create more problems than it solves.
