9973 - Govt trying to bring all children under Aadhaar's purview, says Rajnath Singh - First Post

Govt trying to bring all children under Aadhaar's purview, says Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: Terming trafficking a major challenge, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday that said sex tourism and child pornography among others have emerged as the major threats to children.

Addressing the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) in New Delhi, Singh said protection of children is everyone's responsibility and hence all must work in convergence with as many stake holders as possible including parents, teachers, children and community.

"Trafficking is another major challenge for all of us. With increasing access to information technology and changing nature of our globalised economy; new threats for children are emerging - sex tourism, child pornography, online threats to children among others," he said.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. PTI

The Home Minister said at the same time, large number of children are adversely affected due to rapid climate change, disasters and conflict.

"We are increasingly realizing that we cannot commit ourselves to protecting children without providing an overarching social protection network to them and their families. The biggest challenge is to identify and track children and their families who are vulnerable and reach out to them," he said.

Singh said in India, the government is trying to ensure a protective environment for children by bringing all citizens, including children under the purview of social security by linking them with Aadhaar– Unique Identification number which will empower them to access to their entitlements directly without any hindrance.

"We have set up a National Portal –the Track Child which not only has data on 'missing' children but it also has live database to monitor the progress of the 'found' children who are availing various services in different Child Care Institutions," he said.

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The Home Minister said in recent past, a large number of children were rescued and restore them to their families or provide a protected environment to them through a special initiative called Operation Smile - a drive pioneered jointly by Police, Ministry of Women and Child Development, District administration, civil society organisations and community.

Singh said safety, security, dignity and wellbeing of our children and young people will determine the well-being and strength of our countries.

"SAIEVAC is a coalition of States which aims at protection of the rights of children, particularly protection of children from all forms of discrimination, abuse, neglect, exploitation, torture, trafficking; that is any kind of violence. The mandate of SAIEVAC is to safeguard childhood and to positively value children," he said.

The Home Minister said in today's fast moving world, many challenges exist for the children. Despite the economic growth, there is a huge population which still lives in poverty and deprivation. This adversely affects the survival, health and overall development of children.

9245 - Updation of Aadhaar card details for children - The Hindu

HYDERABAD, January 8, 2016

Updation of Aadhaar card details for children

• SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has notified that children who got Aadhaar card when they were below five years of age, should update biometrics after the age of five years.

UIDAI’s Deputy Director General M.V.S. Rami Reddy in a press release on Thursday said that special enrolment drive for children is underway in all schools and anganwadis in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Hence, the schools and anganwadis concerned can be contacted to avail the facility for enrolment and biometric updation.

Free service

Citizens should also get themselves enrolled if they have not received the Aadhaar till date even after approaching the centres concerned up to December 31. All these services are free of cost and no one need to pay money to any person or agency, he added.

8999 - Maharashtra government targets schools to complete 100% Aadhaar enrollment - DNA

Maharashtra government targets schools to complete 100% Aadhaar enrollment

Sunday, 25 October 2015 - 7:00am IST | Agency: dna | From the print edition

Dhaval Kulkarni

Maharashtra has a population of 11.23 crore, according to the 2011 census, and over 88% have already enrolled for Aadhaar, higher than the national tally of over 75%.

To meet its ambitious target for 100% Aadhaar enrollment by the year-end, the state government is formulating intervention strategies to register children in schools and anganwadis. Apart from identifying schools where the enrollment for the unique identity program is low, it is also planning to train anganwadi supervisors to enrol infants and universalise the Aadhaar card.

Maharashtra has a population of 11.23 crore, according to the 2011 census, and over 88% have already enrolled for Aadhaar, higher than the national tally of over 75%. However, around 1.40 crore population, largely those below the age of 18 years, is yet to enrol for the national unique identity number, thus necessitating the focussed interventions. In contrast, the coverage of people in the 18 years and above category is almost 97%.

Recently, Ajay Bhushan Pandey, director general, UIDAI, met senior state information technology (IT), women and child development department and education department officials in Mumbai to speed up the registration of children. "Our main focus will be on anganwadis and schools. The education department will identify schools where the enrolment is low," IT director M Shankarnarayanan told dna.

"We are considering using anganwadi supervisors to enrol children in the zero to five years age group… and build capacity in anganwadis like it has been done in Himachal Pradesh," he added, noting that however, these supervisors would have to be trained first.

This intervention strategy will largely take place in rural areas where mobility is a problem and inhibits access to Aadhaar enrolment centres, unlike urban pockets. The state government is also planning camps in areas with poor Aadhaar coverage. Around 77 lakh children below the age of five, and 68 lakh below the age of 18 are yet to be registered for the program.

Officials admit that they also need a mechanism to tackle new births and population inflow. Maharashtra already has 2,000 functional kits for permanent enrolment procured by the state government and placed on the ground in the citizen service centres, which are identified by the Maha e-Seva Kendra brand name.

Around six villages are covered by one such CSC, which offers government to citizen (G2C) and commercial services. To meet the registration targets, the state has decided to add 1,929 more machines, taking the total number to 3,929.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has launched an Android-based software to register children below the age of five and this will enable the deployment of tabs to enrol children below the age of five. These tabs will be used to photograph children and collect the fingerprints and the Aadhaar numbers of the parent for validation. The Maharashtra government plans to deploy around 500 such tabs.

The state government will also give inputs to district collectors about villages and blocks where the Aadhaar enrolment is low. This will enable the deployment of enrolment kits to ensure their optimum utilisation instead of using them at locations where the footfalls are less.

To ensure optimal use of these machines, the district collectors will evaluate the enrolment data, evaluate non-performing machines and ask the VLEs to pull up their socks. Officials admitted that ensuring 100% coverage by December-end would not be an easy task.

"The demand push is definitely there and initial reluctance among people has been overcome. However, infrastructure issues like power supply still persist," said an official.

8995 - Now schools roped in for Aadhaar drive - TNN

Now schools roped in for Aadhaar drive

Vinayashree Jagadeesh, TNN | Oct 24, 2015, 03.46AM IST

CHENNAI: Now, schools in the city are being roped in as part of an Aadhaar enrolment drive in the city. A notification by the education department a week ago instructed several city schools to collect aadhaar card details of their students and their parents. Camps are being held in selected school centres of Tamil Nadu to enroll those who don't have an aadhaar card.

G J Manohar, headmaster of MCC Higher Secondary School said they are collecting details from across classes. "Camps too are being held in selected school centres to enroll those who don't have an aadhaar card into the scheme," he said. Collectors will visit centres to guide students through the fingerprint and photo procedure. 

However, this doesn't seem to have gone down well with some of the parents who expressed concern over providing such personal details to schools. "I want to know why we are being asked to provide these details to schools. It is after all a very private document," said Priya, a parent of St Bede's School. 

A representative of SBOA Matriculation Higher Secondary School, who wished to be anonymous, said it was becoming very difficult for them to collect details. "Many parents have come and said they cannot share such confidential information. It is not an easy process," the representative said.

While there have been reports of aadhaar being linked with exam procedures and even roll numbers, Tamil Nadu education department officials maintained that the Aadhaar details will only be linked with the EMIS (Education Management Information System) number. Commissioner of Revenue Administration, Atulya Misra said, "Aadhaar card based attendance systems are followed in many central government offices. The government is keen on providing enrollment facilities for aadhaar. 

It is completely voluntary." With 59.9% of the city's population having aadhaar cards, Chennai ranks low when compared to other districts in Tamil Nadu. Census department statistics show that 27.7 lakh people of the 33.89 lakh in Chennai who registered for aadhaar have obtained the cards. In TN, a total of 5.39 crore aadhaar cards have been distributed so far. 

8930 - No Aadhaar card? You can’t take exams, Class I kids told - Bangalore Mirror

No Aadhaar card? You can’t take exams, Class I kids told

By Sridhar Vivan, Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Oct 14, 2015, 04.00 AM IST

Flying in the face of an SC ruling, schools in the city have threatened to bar students from sitting for exams if they fail to furnish the document

At all of five years, S Raj has no idea what an Aadhaar card is supposed to be. But its very mention gives him the jitters. So much so that Raj, who attends a posh school on Sarjapur Road, has been refusing to attend classes. It's the same story with hundreds of kids across the city.

With schools across the board, from private unaided, aided, government as well as minority institutions, declaring they will not allow students to write exams if they fail to furnish an Aadhaar card, it has become synonymous with dread. Till now, the UIDAI card had only been the bane of PU students.

"How can they insist on Class I students furnishing an Aadhaar card? Teachers have been sending reminders in the diary to send the Aadhaar card. When we said we did not have one, we were told our child may not be allowed to write final exams," Rahana S, a parent, told Mirror.

Recounting her experience, another parent said students in her son's school had also been told they would not be allowed to sit for their final exams if they did not bring a copy of the Aadhaar card. "Exams are currently on and it is a mental torture for the kids. We do not have one and my son is terrified. He fears he will not be allowed into the school. No explanation has been given as to why it is required."

She said their neighbour's son who studies in the same school cried and created a ruckus when his parents could not find his Aadhaar card. He even refused to go to school to write his exams till the card was found because his teacher had said it was compulsory. "It was with great difficult that they managed to pacify him."

The parents said the Supreme Court has already given a jolt to the Centre as it refused to modify its interim order (August 11 order of the apex court states Aadhaar card will remain optional for availing government welfare schemes and the authorities cannot use it for purposes other than PDS and LPG distribution system). In view of this development, they said schools should not be rigid either.

BG Murthy, president of Unaided Schools Association, said they were at the receiving end of criticism from parents. "When we tried to convey the parents' sentiments to the education department, officials expressed their helplessness, saying the directive had come from their higher-ups."

However, the diktat poses a dilemma to several parents who have not got Aadhaar cards despite applying long back. 

Rakshith N said he had applied on June 15, 2013. "I am still waiting. Whenever I log in and type my enrolment ID, it shows an error. With such a situation, how can we give our Aadhaar details?"

Education department officials said they had been directed to collect details so that an Aadhaar enrolment drive could be started in schools.

General secretary of Karnataka Associated Managements of English Medium Schools (KAMS), D Shashi Kumar, said, "We need to follow the directive issued by the education department which requires us to collect details about Aadhaar cards from students. However, we have asked schools not to threaten kids with being stopped from writing exams without Aadhaar cards."

8813 - 88% adults in state enrolled for Aadhaar, govt to now focus on kids - TNN

88% adults in state enrolled for Aadhaar, govt to now focus on kids

Sujit Mahamulkar,TNN | Oct 3, 2015, 01.00 AM IST 

Mumbai: The state government has enrolled over 88% of the adult population for Aadhaar card, but lags behind in registration of kids. The government has now decided to arm officials with tablets so that they can take a photograph of children with one of the parents and facilitate enrolment.

The state government has decided to ensure 100% enrolment for Aadhaar card by end of this year. 

State chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya told TOI that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a review of the various projects, including Unique Identification (UID), through video conferencing. Chief secretaries of all other states were also part of the video conferencing with Modi, who appealed to complete the project as soon as possible.

"We have completed over 88% of adult enrolment for Aadhaar and are now concentrating on children. New 2,000-odd kits (laptops, monitors, single-finger print scanner, iris scanner, web camera and multi-functional device) will be procured within the next 15 days," said Kshatriya.

At the village level, the government has provided tabs to its employees.. "A government employee will go from to house to house at the village level and enrol children. He will click a photo of a child with one of the parentsfor identification," the chief secretary added.

Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique number which the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will issue for all residents. The number will be stored in a centralised database and linked to the basic demographics and biometric information, photograph, 10 fingerprints and iris imprint of each individual.

8385 - Statewide survey: 189 children in Kolhapur district enrolled back in schools - TNN

Statewide survey: 189 children in Kolhapur district enrolled back in schools

Piyush Bhusari, TNN | Jul 27, 2015, 12.56AM IST

KOLHAPUR: As many as 189 children from the district, who were identified as 'out-of-school' during the July 4 survey, have been enrolled back in schools. According the district primary education officials, they are tracking the admission status of the remaining children. 

The officials said the admission status of the children studying in madrassas is still unclear. The state government's notification had clearly stated that once the students are identified as out-of-school, they should be admitted within a week. 

The district primary education department had identified 493 out-of-school children in the district of which 232 were from madrssas. The officials said 189 are non-madrassa students. They are hoping to receive the data on the remaining 72 students from a few of the talukas this week. 

Subhash Chaugule, district primary education officer, told TOI that the admission status of the children from two-three talukas is awaited. We are awaiting the final report, he said. 

"We have asked for the admission status report from the taluka-level officers concerned. The report is likely to be generated this week. The admission process is underway and we are likely to bring all the identified students in the mainstream education soon," he said. 

Chaugule said the department is yet to receive any clarification on the students identified in madrassas. 

According to the state government's circular dated May 20, the identified children should get Aadhaar cards within eight days. 

When asked about the status of Aadhaar cards for the children, the officer said preference is being given to the students from anganwadis. Once the process is over, the students from primary classes will be issued Aadhaar cards. 

The survey was embroiled in controversy after the state government decision to term students of madrassas as out-of-school. The district administration had appointed as many as 7,161 survey officers for the event, along with 383 zonal officers and 22 control room officers across the district for the survey. 

The school education department had collaborated with the departments of public health, revenue, labour, women and child welfare, minority affairs, tribal development and social welfare as well as municipal authorities to ensure that all aspects are covered. 

The squads were asked to look after marketplaces, slums, bus stops, railway stations and traffic signals among other places and start registering details of these children. Once registered, every child was marked on the finger with indelible 

8230 - UIDAI bats for Aadhaar cards for children to meet December deadline - Economic Times

UIDAI bats for Aadhaar cards for children to meet December deadline

ET Bureau Jul 3, 2015, 05.40AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has started an aggressive drive to issue Aadhaar to infants and children below 18 years as it looks to ensure " universal coverage" by December, having missed the June deadline.

Unique Identification Authority of India has issued 87 crore Aadhaar numbers as on July 1. To reach the full coverage of more than 120 crore people, it will have to significantly increase the number of Aadhaars issued in a month from the current average of 2-2.5 crore. "The coverage is low, especially in the northeast. Besides, enrolment of infants and children between 5 and 18 years is yet to pick up speed. Hence we will now focus on these gap areas so as to cover all by end of this year," said Sreeranjan, deputy director general at Unique Identification Authority of India.

According to him, there are around 15 crore infants in the age group of 0-5 years and 24 crore children between 5 and 18 years who would now be enrolled on a priority basis.

Speaking at the round table on direct benefits and basic income transfers organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Sreeranjan said 94% of the population aged 18 years and above in the 24 states where the enrolment is being done by UIDAI are already covered.

"However, it (the coverage) is only 75 per cent-80 per cent in states where the Registrar General of India is doing the enrolment," he said, hinting that the slow pace of work in these states is another impediment to meeting the deadline.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in September last year directed Unique Identification Authority of India to ensure "universal coverage" under Aadhaar by June 2015 to use the platform for rolling out direct benefit transfer across all social welfare scheme. While the prime minister's Jan Dhan Yojana is dependent on it wherein the beneficiaries can open their bank accounts using their 12-digit Aadhaar number, the PMO has also directed that passports be linked to Aadhaar data. Meanwhile, chief economic advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian said sales of subsidised LPG cylinders under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme have come down by about 25 per cent as most 'ghost beneficiaries' have been eliminated. "We estimate that in 2014-15, savings could be as much .`12,700 crore, which is a lot of money. But savings will be lower this year at around.`6,500 crore," Subramanian told the UNDP conference call on Thursday while commenting on the fiscal impact of the DBT scheme. He, however, cautioned that the government should make sure genuine beneficiaries are not excluded. Subramanian said that government was expecting commercial sales to go up by a huge number, but actually this did not happen and there was only 6 per cent increase.

Under 'Pahal' scheme, earlier known as Direct Benefit Transfer, LPG cylinders are sold at market rates and consumers get the subsidy directly in their bank accounts. This is done either through an Aadhaar or a bank account linkage. The CEA said institutional arrangement has improved because of schemes like Pahal, Jan Dhan and Aadhaar, and "things are now working"

7942 - Maharashtra to track students’ academic record to arrest education slide - Indian Express

Maharashtra to track students’ academic record to arrest education slide

Fadnavis govt has decided to put into practice a Aadhaar-based unique child education tracking system in the age group of 6-14 years.

Written by Sandeep A Ashar , Dipti Singh | Published on:May 11, 2015 3:45 am

The Maharashtra government is looking to track its nearly 1.6 crore school students as it plans to improve the quality of education in the state.

In the wake of a survey that shed light on the poor quality of primary education and the high dropout rates in Maharashtra, the Devendra Fadnavis government has decided to put into practice a unique child education tracking system, using the Aadhaar identification number of all the nearly 1.6 crore students in the age group of 6-14 years.

Nand Kumar, Principal Secretary, School Education, told The Indian Express that the new system would be rolled out on May 22 and would be applicable to both public and private schools.

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Over 90 per cent population in Maharashtra has already enrolled for Aadhaar, according to  official figures.

In January 2015, the Annual Status of Education Report, a nationwide survey carried out by education advocacy group Pratham, had found that learning standards in state’s schools were poorer than most other states in the country.

The NGO that surveyed over 788 primary schools across the state had found that seven out of ten Class VIII students could not carry out basic subtraction and division of numbers.  Further, 80 per cent students in Class VIII could not read Class II textbooks.

Desperate to improve its skewed education development index, the state government is now banking on this child tracking system to deliver results.

A senior government official said under the new system developed with the assistance of National Informatics Centre, the government planned to maintain annual records of all schoolgoing children, including their basic profile, their academic performance, and details of incentives or benefits provided to him/her, if at all, by the government.

Besides helping the government curb misdirected benefits and grants — a probe had earlier revealed rampant bogus enrollments in state schools — Nand Kumar said the government planned to use the new system to track the performance of each child.

“We have no means currently to map whether an enrolled student is getting the desired education in schools. The new system will allow us to track their performance regularly,” the senior bureaucrat said. He added that plans were also afoot to start common tests in mathematics and language subjects for evaluating a child’s progress.

The state government, which will also involve a third party agency to audit performance of schools, has said the school administration will be held accountable for under performance of students in such assessments.

With a high dropout ratio in schools also adversely impacting on primary education in the state, the Maharashtra government has also decided to club the system with a survey to identify “out-of-school” students across the state. “This survey will be launched on June 20. We plan to track even such students with Aadhaar numbers,” Nand Kumar said.

Elaborating, he said, “Once the student’s data is fed into a central data monitoring system through Aadhaar, he or she will be enrolled in a nearby school. It would be the responsibility of the school then to impart education to such kids.”

According to official figures, over 2 lakh children in Maharashtra are estimated to be “out of school”. Of this, about 1.18 lakh students are students, roughly 59 per cent are such who have never gone to school, whereas the remaining 0.82 lakh are dropouts.

More worrying fact for the government is a very high dropout ratio among girls leaving studies after primary education. Official figures reveal that about 21 per cent girls drop out of school before passing their class X.

Taking a stern view of the state of education in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier directed the department to take concrete steps to improve the state’s overall ranking in the education development index.

The state government has also set an ambitious target of bringing down the girl dropout ratio in Class X to 5 per cent before 2020.
Educationist Basanti Roy, who is also a former secretary of the Mumbai division of the state education board, however, felt that the state government must first fix the problem regarding poor standard of teachers in schools. “Inadequate number of teachers in government schools, and poor quality of teachers in private schools are the main reason Maharashtra fares poorly in education.”

Sunita George, principal, Vibgyor High School in Mumbai’s Goregaon, welcomed the initiative but said the government must use it to take some concrete steps.

7837 - Maharashtra to link school admission with Aadhaar - The Hindu

MUMBAI, April 23, 2015

Maharashtra to link school admission with Aadhaar

The Hindu

File photo of a child being enrolled for Aadhaar.

TOPICS

India

Maharashtra

The registration number of students' admission will be linked to Aadhaar in order to effectively implement the Right to Education Act.

Maharashtra Government has decided to link school students’ admission registration numbers to Aadhar card in order to effectively implement the Right to Education Act.

A campaign to prepare Aadhaar cards for school children will be undertaken from April 27 to June 26, according to a government resolution (GR) issued here on Tuesday.

The state government has asked the local administration to ensure that school children at the taluka and village levels are issued Aadhaar cards within 60 days and the UID numbers are linked to their school admission numbers.

Linking of students’ admission registration number to Adhaar card will facilitate tracking of the child in the education system. The government clarified this was being done to ensure the Right to Education Act (RTE) was implemented properly, the GR said.

It will help government verify whether students are enrolled in schools and parents can also be kept in the loop over their child’s educational progress, it said.

Block education officers have been asked to compile data relating the number of children with Aadhaar cards and forward it to respective district collectorates.

The government has also asked the local administration to publicise the campaign.

The RTE Act ensures that children in the 6-14 age group are not left out of the educational system.

The GR said the biggest challenge to ensure success of the RTE Act is to bring non-school going children in the education fold.

Keywords: RTE act, Aadhaar, school admission, school education 

7682 - Aadhaar not required for schoolchildren - TNN

Aadhaar not required for schoolchildren

TNN | Mar 29, 2015, 12.06 PM IST

MANGALURU: Aadhaar cards are not made mandatory for school students, emphasized deputy commissioner A B Ibrahim and deputy director of public instructions (DDPI) Walter D'Mello. 

The duo made this statement at the quarterly Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) meeting held on Saturday. 

At the review meet chaired by district in-charge minister B Ramanath Rai, MLC Ivan D'Souza pointed out that several schools in the district are demanding Aadhaar cards from students. 

Inconvenience for all 

"Parents are made to suffer as schools are demanding Aadhaar card copies of their wards. Children, instead of preparing for the final exams, are made to wait in the queue at Aadhaar card registration centres. The district administration should either make necessary arrangements for the speedy disposal of Aadhaar cards or stop the process completely," the MLC said. 

DC Ibrahim and D'Mello reaffirmed that the government has not made Aadhaar card compulsory for students. D'Mello said: "The department has not received any direction from the government. We have not directed schools to make Aadhaar card compulsory for students," he clarified. 

Mangalore City South MLA J R Lobo pointed out that the process of Aadhaar card registration is unorganized in the district. 

"Although tokens are issued to the citizens, when they go to the venue, they don't find anyone at the registration counters. The district administration should convene a meeting of IT department officials immediately to solve the crisis," he added. 

Minister Rai said that a meeting of state officials will be held shortly to discuss issues related to Aadhar card distribution. 

The DC said 71% of people in Dakshina Kannada have registered for Aadhar card. "Over 16 lakh people have registered for Aadhaar card in the district. We are in the process of registering over 4.5 lakh people, and the task has been entrusted to a private agen cy," he added. 

Additional deputy commissioner J Sadashiva Prabhu pointed out that in addition to four centres in the city, the district administration has made provision for Aadhaar card registration at 16 out of 17 nadakacheris in the district. Howeve r, shortage of staff is hindering the registration process, he said. 

7322 - Gujarat government to track child education record using UID - India Today

Gujarat government to track child education record using UID

Darshan Desai   |   Mail Today  |   Gandhinagar, February 3, 2015 | UPDATED 10:28 IST

The state government will give Unique Identification numbers to students from classes from I to VIII.

Dropout of children from schools, their absenteeism, performance of government schools and its teachers have had a sledgehammer impact on primary education in various states, including Gujarat that is not known to have an impressive track record.

But, things seem to be changing in Gujarat. Conceived in December 2012, the state government has from the June 2014 academic year put into practice a child education tracking system by assigning a digitised Unique Identification code number to all the whopping 87 lakh students between standard 1 and standard 8.

According to Mukesh Kumar, state project coordinator of the Centre's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), every child will have an 18-digit UID number to track his or her academic career. "It will not only track the reasons for his dropping out from school, his absenteeism and his performance but this will also be linked to the consequent training programmes for teachers," Mukesh Kumar told Mail Today.

He explained that under this system, annual child-wise records would be maintained with the student's name, birth date, details of parents, address and incentives or benefits received, if at all, from the government. It has been called Aadhaar-enabled District Information System for Education (DISE).

Officials informed that the usual DISE captures only the figures of enrolment, but this has been termed Aadhar-enabled system since the latter contains a comprehensive data of every resident's demographic and biometric information, "which they can use to identify themselves anywhere in India, and to access a host of benefits and services".

The same concept has been adopted to build a database of students and to provide unique identification number to all the students in the schools. All the students under elementary schooling system have been covered under this system, the official said.

Among the key aims of the project is to deal with problems like fake enrolment, fudged dropout and retention numbers as well as to ensure universalisation of elementary education, Mukesh Kumar said.

This web-enabled system will not only help become a complete academic track record of every student and his or her socio-economic situation reflected through dropouts and absenteeism but, "very importantly, also create a database and parameters of the performance of every school."

According to Mukesh Kumar, the database would bring out the commonalities in academic failures in the schools and this would provide the education department a hands-on material for training of teachers to improve their performance. "And thus contribute to the overall improvement of the basic education performance of the state," he added.

The entire project was specially designed and developed by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Monitoring Information System of Gujarat. The first set of data for 87 lakh students for the academic year 2013-2014 was collected by a Cluster Resource Centre. And this time the data is being collected right from the block level.

According to an internal Education Department note, "a central interface team also called as District Team & Block Team will monitor the end users CRC (Cluster Resource Co-coordinators) to track the entire group of schools allocated to each one of them." The tracking will include the facility and enrolment, distribution of help-desk operations forms across all the schools.

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