Lok Sabha Question No. 146 (STARRED), answered on 2023-07-31
Subject: Aadhaar Card for Admission in Government Schools
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Shashi Tharoor, Imtiaz Jaleel Syed

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 146 ANSWERED ON 31.07.2023

## Aadhaar Card for Admission in Government Schools

## *146. DR. SHASHI THAROOR: SHRI SYED IMTIAZ JALEEL:

Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that every State has made it mandatory for children to produce Aadhaar  Card  for  getting  admission  in  Government  schools,  in  violation  of  Children's fundamental  right  to  education  and  the  Supreme  Court  ruling  that  strictly  prohibited  the mandatory use of Aadhaar Cards (Judgement Section 322);
- (b) whether the Government issued any advisory/ warning to the State Governments not to insist for production of Aadhaar Cards for availing admission in schools or any welfare programmes;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to provide the Right to Education for children of inter-State and intra-State migrant families; and
- (e) if so, the number of children covered in this regard during last three years, State-wise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 146 FOR 31 ST  JULY, 2023 ASKED BY DR. SHASHI THAROOR AND SHRI SYED IMTIAZ JALEEL, HON'BLE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT REGARDING AADHAAR CARD FOR ADMISSION IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.

(a)to (e) : Education is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution and majority of the schools come under the purview of the respective State and UT Governments. As per the circular dated 05.09.2018 issued by Unique Identification Authority of India, children may not be deprived/denied of their due benefits or rights for want of Aadhaar. No child should be denied admission and other facilities for lack of Aadhaar.

The Department of School Education and Literacy has also issued a notification dated 29.11.2021 stating  that  no  eligible  child  shall  be  denied  benefit  under  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of Samagra  Shiksha  in  case  of  failure  to  establish  his  identity  by  undergoing  authentication  or furnishing proof of possession of Aadhaar number or in the case of a child to whom no Aadhaar number has been assigned, producing an application for enrolment, the benefit shall be given to him by verifying his identity on the basis of other documents.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, mandates the respective State and Union Territory Government- which are the appropriate Government, to provide free and compulsory elementary education to every child of the age 6 to 14 years in a neighbourhood school.

To ensure that children have access to education with quality and equity and to minimize the impact of the pandemic on school education in the country, Ministry of Education has shared guidelines dated 7 th January, 2021 with all States which, among others, include identification of out of school children from age 6-18 years, enrolment drives and awareness generation, student support while schools are closed, continued Education for children with Special Needs (CWSN), student support on school reopening and Teacher capacity building.

To increase students' enrolment and reduce dropout, the residential schools Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Avasiya Vidyalayas are being set up for children belonging  to  socio-economically  disadvantaged  backgrounds.  Further,  under  'Pradhan  Mantri Poshan  Shakti  Nirman'  (PM  POSHAN),  the  Department  provides  one  hot  cooked  meal  in Government and Government aided elementary schools including Balvatikas.

Since 2021-22, financial assistance upto Rs.2000 per annum is being provided for supporting Out of School  Children  including  migrant  children  of  age  group  of  16-19  years,  belonging  to  socio economically  disadvantaged  groups,  for  completing  their  education  through  NIOS/SIOS,  for accessing course materials and certification.

The  Department  has  also  developed  an  online  module  for  compiling  the  data  of  Out  of  School Children (OoSC) including migrant children identified by each State/UT and their mapping with Special  Training  Centres  (STC)  on  the  PRABANDH  Portal  of  Samagra  Shiksha.  As  per  the information provided by the State/UT Government in their respective Annual Work Plan & Budget (AWP&B), the information of identified migrant children is as under:

## Identified Migrant Children

| S. No.   | State/UT       |   FY 2020-21 | FY 2021-22   | FY 2022-23   |
|----------|----------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh |        29975 | 7500         | 17907        |
| 2        | Assam          |        17200 | 16202        | 15452        |
| 3        | Bihar          |         3174 | 53938        | -            |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh   |          200 | 5653         | -            |
| 5        | Gujarat        |        37800 | 32000        | 36675        |
| 6        | Jammu &Kashmir |        33504 | 37880        | 39181        |
| 7        | Jharkhand      |         1530 | 2408         | -            |
| 8        | Karnataka      |         3387 | 4109         | -            |
| 9        | Ladakh         |          143 | 28           | -            |
| 10       | Madhya Pradesh |         7045 | 4997         | 5615         |
| 11       | Maharashtra    |        70294 | 56612        | 28097        |
| 12       | Odisha         |         9480 | 4795         | 8778         |
| 13       | Rajasthan      |         1000 | 1000         | 1000         |
| 14       | Tamil Nadu     |         1999 | 1814         | -            |
| 15       | Telangana      |         6895 | 4870         | 6454         |
| 16       | Tripura        |         5055 | 5482         | 5434         |
| 17       | Uttarakhand    |         1264 | 1000         | 1000         |
| 18       | West Bengal    |          374 | -            | -            |
| Grand    | Total          |       230319 | 240288       | 165593       |

Source: AWP&B,

(-) No mention in this regard has been made by the State in its AWP&B

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