The local authorities in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh (UP) have advised the State Government to revoke the recognition of 90 madrasas in the district due to their alleged failure to generate Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) IDs as part of the Centre’s ‘one nation, one student’ initiative.
APAAR is a unique identification system created for every student across the country with the aim to store all their academic credentials in one place.
This comes after the government had maintained that the APAAR ID enrollment is voluntary.
Moreover, on the official website the process of enrollment for APAAR ID states that “parents fill up consent forms voluntarily for APAAR ID creation.”
“Despite repeated notices and phone calls, 107 out of the 301 recognised madrasas in the district made zero progress in APAAR ID generation. These institutions were given a final opportunity to comply with the order. Upon review, it was found that while 17 madrasas have now initiated the process, 90 still showed no progress,” stated Sanjay Mishra, District Minority Welfare Officer.
Previously, MediaNama had reported that despite the government claiming that the APAAR ID process is completely voluntary, parents have faced pressure to consent.
Reports also indicated that APAAR ID has been made mandatory for students to appear in the UP Board Examinations.
The 12-digit digital ID is integrated with DigiLocker and the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), and All individuals aged five and above enrolled in recognized educational institutions, including schools, colleges, and madrasas, are eligible to apply.
Concerns Over Mandatory Compliance
“If you look at what the ministry has said, both in a parliamentary response and in a reply to a RTI application we filed, both indicate that the APAAR ID is voluntary and not mandatory,” stated Prasanth Sugathan, legal director of Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC).
Sugathan explained that if a school’s recognition is linked to complying with this process, compliance with a voluntary ID cannot be mandated.
“Something that is purely voluntary, as per the ministry’s responses, should not be forced through various means. Whether by linking benefits to it or by linking the school’s recognition to it, such an approach would be improper,” he added.
“When you look at school recognition, there are set rules that schools and education authorities must comply with. You can’t disregard all of that and issue an order,” he pointed out.
He also noted that the use Aadhaar, which is being pushed alongside the APAAR ID since it is required in most cases, remains voluntary for students. He emphasized that benefits cannot be denied to someone just because they do not have Aadhaar, and by extension, the same principle should apply to the APAAR ID.
Sugathan added that “now, we have a situation where students are being denied benefits, and their fundamental right to education is being affected.”
He explained that if a school loses recognition, the students enrolled there are directly impacted. “Simply because a school or students do not comply with a direction to enroll for APAAR ID, that cannot be a legal reason for derecognition,” he said.
Sugathan emphasized that any order that affects a person or an institution must follow due process.
Decline in Madrasa Enrollment
Reports have also indicated that enrolments in recognised Madrasas dropped by 16% in 2023-24 compared to 2018-19, despite a 7% rise in the number of such schools and a 13% increase in teachers. While officials attribute the overall drop to the removal of duplicate and ghost entries using Aadhaar-based identification, the sharp decline in Madrasa enrolments despite an increase in recognised Madrasas and teachers raises concerns about whether this drop is due to data corrections or an actual decline in student attendance.
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