CBSE retracts mandatory Aadhaar rule from schools
The CBSE board has retracted the Aadhaar card number rule that had been made mandatory for students to fill in while registering for the Class 10 and 12 board exams. The board issued a corrigendum regarding the same after objections were raised by parents.
According to a parent from Andheri, their son’s school had started the online registration of class 10 board form at the beginning of the month. “Apart from the normal details like parents’ name, subjects, preferred language and so on, the form had a column for the Aadhaar card number which was mandatory for the students to fill. Though our son has an Aadhaar number we were surprised that it was made mandatory,” said the parent.
The parent added that when their son asked the school what would happen if he did not fill up the Aadhaar card number column he was told that such a form would not be accepted, which created a furore among students as the courts have made Aadhaar card number optional till the government covers everyone in the country.
An official from the school said that they were only following the rules laid down by the board and had no say in it. “The school forwarded the objections to the board and sought instructions about the same,” said the official.
Taking note of the objections and disgruntlement among the parents, the board issued a clarification stating that the Aadhaar number was optional. K.K. Choudhary, Controller of Examination, in the clarification, said, “Online registration of students for Class 9/11 & submission of list of candidates for students studying in Class 10/12 in the session 2015-2016 has started. These contain a column to enter Aadhaar number. The same is not mandatory, but optional.” Schools have also been asked not to force students to fill the column if they do not want to.