UP: July 30 deadline for Aadhaar enrolment of 50 lakh schoolchildren

LUCKNOW: The state government has given a July 30 deadline to the education department to complete the Aadhaar enrolment of over 50 lakh schoolchildren taking admissions in classes up to VIII across the state.
The 12-digit unique identity number would be used to filter out fake beneficiaries of government schemes such as free of cost school uniforms, shoes, text books, midday meal and scholarships, said an official.
Besides these students of 1.58 lakh government schools, Aadhaar enrolment of students of all recognised private and aided junior high schools would also be done. The director for basic education has appointed a nodal officer for completion of the work within 30 days.
Secretary of Basic Shiksha Parishad Ruby Singh said, “The mass exercise will help us in removing fake beneficiaries of government schemes. The unique number will be written in the enrolment register of every child and will act as a reference number for the children during distribution of uniforms, books, shoes and meals, among others.”
The instruction has been passed on to all recognized private and aided junior high schools in cities and rural areas.
UP midday meal authority director Abdul Samad told TOI, “It is not that we will stop giving meals to children who do not have an Aadhaar card. But the basic education department should ensure that kids availing the schemes have the card by July-end. This will ensure transparency in the mammoth project.”
The state education department has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Unique Identification Authority of India for completion of the project.
Besides, an agency would be entrusted with the task of making Aadhar cards in schools under each of the 822 development blocks of the state. Around a crore students study in 1.13 lakh primary and 45,700 upper primary schools of the state.