9210 - Schools asked to report data twice for govt records - TNN

Schools asked to report data twice for govt records

Abhishek ChoudhariDec 24, 2015, 03.10 AM IST

Nagpur: Much to their dismay, this year schools in state have to submit details about their staff, students and infrastructure to two different databases. In the current year, the new online database called SARAL was supposed to replace the older version and for months now schools have been keying in the data. But now technicial issues have forced education department to ask schools to submit the same data in the older version called UDISE.

Anil Kohle, primary education officer (Nagpur district), said, "SARAL is working fine but there are just slight issues with the processing part, which will be taken care of soon. In the meantime, schools have to fill up the online UDISE as well for the current academic year."

Extra clerical work is something that schools despise, considering that the servers taking care of these databases are not always cooperative. A school principal said, "There are quite a few things that have to be entered manually and this makes things tedious. For many inputs we can upload files to the server but have found that sometimes compatibility issues crop up. Now to fill the data in at both UDISE and SARAL is a big headache."

While schools' concern about extra clerical load is valid, there is no denying that the SARAL database will usher in a new era in bringing transparency and ease of policy making for school education in state. SARAL will have data not only about students and staff but also about the school's management members and infrastructure. Developed by the central government's National Informatics Centre, SARAL is unique because it goes beyond collecting statistics and moves into tracking a student's academic performance.

Detailed databases will also help schools save countless man-hours in compiling statistical reports that were required by the education department almost every quarter. The current system of digital data collection was limited to UDISE, which is maintained by the central government. The new database has a very statistical approach and can spit out traditional reports like number of schools/teachers/students along with a few filters. Education societies also have to register and then all schools under them will be linked to "mother ship".

This, for the first time, will enable education department to instantly see how many schools are owned by a single entity. Database of students is also being prepared and linked with their Aadhaar card number. The state government had started the "School Students Aadhaar Card Campaign" with a target of enrolling every student. Once SARAL is fully operational, schools won't have to upload data with UDISE separately. Relevant information from SARAL will be automatically sent to UDISE.

8034 - Over 73,000 students to get Aadhaar cards - TNN

Over 73,000 students to get Aadhaar cards

TNN | May 24, 2015, 05.45AM IST

KOLHAPUR: The district primary education department has started Aadhaar card registration of elementary school students across the district. After district collector Amit Saini conducted a review meeting in the first week of this month, the education department has been given 20 additional machines, taking the total number to 80, to achieve the target of enrolling 73,963 students before June 26. 

According to the department's Aadhaar review report, a copy of which is with the TOI, the district has as many as 2.74 lakh students eligible for getting the card of which 2.11 lakh have already enrolled for it. 

As per the report, Hatkanagale taluka has the largest number of pending students with the figure standing at 15,978. Aajara taluka has the lowest number of pending students (723). Kagal and Karveer talukas too have over 10,000 students pending for enrolment. 

Smita Gaud, district primary education officer, told TOI, "The awareness drive for Aadhaar card enrolment has started in the district and is receiving slow but steady response. Summer holidays are creating a hurdle in the drive, but it will pick up pace soon." 

She said over 9,000 teachers from the district have shown active participation in the drive. Since over 75% of the students have already enrolled for getting Aadhaar cards, the department is left with registering the remaining 73,963 students across the district. 

"We are taking constant follow-ups of the drive. Since it is not possible to organize enrolment activity in every school, we have asked to hold the drive in one common and bigger school in some of the areas in district. Instructions regarding the same have been issued to the block education officers," Gaud added. 

Meanwhile, the department has asked the education officials to do publicity for the campaign. According to the state government's April 21 directives, advertisements should be given in government and private media so that everyone gets to know about it. 

Anuradha Bhosale, vice-chairman of Avani, a city-based NGO working in the field of education, told TOI, "It is heartening to know that many of the students have already registered for getting Aadhaar cards. It is now up to the administration to register the remaining ones in a proper manner." 

According to education department officials, over one crore children in the state up to 14 years of age will be brought under the ambit of Aadhaar card with the help of this mega drive. The move is aimed at ensuring that no child drops out of school before he/she completes education or at least till attaining elementary education and gets benefits of all government schemes. 

In fact, the department in its latest directive on May 20 has asked the schools to carry out a full-fledged survey on July 4 to enroll out-of-school kids in academics. The number of students identified in that drive will also have to be enrolled for Aadhaar cards. 

Any child who is not enrolled in a school or has not attended school for more than 30 days is considered to be out-of-school. At present, there is no government data on the number of out-of-school children in the state. 

Linking of Aadhaar card with students' database will help the government verify whether the students are enrolled in schools. 

7936 - Schools oppose demand for Aadhaar cards - TNN

Schools oppose demand for Aadhaar cards

TNN | May 10, 2015, 04.39AM IST

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Association of Heads of Secondary Schools has objected to some recommendations made by the school education department in its April 10 report. Principals have said Aadhaar card numbers should not be sought during school admissions as it is against the Supreme Court ruling that it is not mandatory. 

In an effort to curb the bogus number of students in schools across the state, the report had suggested that every student seeking admission should register their Aadhaar card numbers. 

"It is the responsibility of the parents to make Aadhaar cards for their children. Schools need not be involved there," said Prashant Redij, vice-president, of the association. 

7073 - Aadhaar must from next year in schools: minister - The Hindu

VIJAYAWADA, December 16, 2014

Updated: December 16, 2014 00:24 IST

Aadhaar must from next year in schools: minister

G. V. R. SUBBA RAO

Police take into custody student union leaders who staged a protest outside a hotel where Human Resource Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao was holding a review meeting on education in Vijayawada on Monday. Photo: V. Raju.

The State government has set a deadline of December 31 to complete Aadhaar card linkage in all educational institutions in the State. At present, the 84 per cent linkage was completed, according to Human Resources Development Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao.

The minister held a review of school education here on Monday. Later, addressing a press conference, he said though entry of aadhaar details was satisfactory, verification of the details was very poor. The officials were asked to complete both entry and verification by end of December. From next academic year, aadhaar card would be made compulsory in schools for all purposes, he said.

Stating that there was a tremendous response to badi pilustondi (back to school) programme launched by the State government, Mr. Rao said that officials, including DyEOs, RJDs, and RIOs etc., were asked to stay put in schools twice in a month from January. The new initiative would be called as badi lo basa (stay in schools), he said.

Though there was no dearth of funds for creating infrastructural facilities like kitchen sheds, toilets, and additional class rooms etc, many school lacked infrastructural facilities. It was noticed that hardly there was any progress though funds were sanctioned. Primarily it was due to absence of accountability. The government constituted a committee to study the lapses in developing infrastructure in the schools. “We will take stringent action against the officials, who are responsible for this sordid state of affairs,” he said.

Referring to Intermediate examinations, the minister said that the government tried its best to conduct intermediate examinations commonly for both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. “Telangana government did not agree though we agreed on many fronts like Chairman post steering committee. We did not want the students to suffer from the uncertainty. So, we have decided to conduct the exams separately from March 11, without the involvement of Telangana,” he said.

5025 - Providing Aadhaar numbers not mandatory for school students - The Hindu

COIMBATORE, December 25, 2013

Updated: December 25, 2013 11:35 IST

Providing Aadhaar numbers not mandatory for school students

R. SAIRAM

Schools have been instructed to collect the Aadhaar numbers only from those who have it: CEO

Even as some private schools are forcing students from classes LKG to Plus-Two to furnish Aadhaar card numbers for inclusion in the database of the Department of School Education, the officials here have clarified that this was only optional.

A parent of two girls studying in Standards I and IV in a city school said that the school was asking the children to furnish the Aadhaar numbers.

He said that he had shifted his house from Ganapathy to Rathinapuri a few months ago. While he had an Aadhaar card containing details of his earlier address, he was not successful in updating the change of address despite several attempts to do so with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Further, he was issued an older version of the card without details such as National Population Registry numbers.

Also, the schools were asking the details even for Standard I students.

Chief Educational Officer A. Gnanagowri told The Hindu here on Tuesday that the schools have only been instructed to collect the Aadhaar card numbers from those students who have it. The data would be entered into the Education Management Information System (EMIS).

“Providing the data will only benefit the student in the long run. Further, this database will be used by the policy makers and hence, it was vital to include all data,” she added. An official overseeing the EMIS project said that plans were afoot to link the School Education Department database with the UIDAI database.

This will help both sides to verify their data and address inconsistencies.

Launched last academic year, the EMIS was a comprehensive database which will eventually contain profiles of teachers and students in private and Government schools in Tamil Nadu.

Smart cards containing data ranging from family details to blood group would be issued to all students.

The Supreme Court, on September 23, 2013, ruled that that no citizen should be denied benefits for non-possession of the Aadhaar Card.