Aadhaar access elusive for government students

CHENNAI: Despite repeated initiatives by the Tamil Nadu School Education Department to facilitate Aadhaar enrolment on campus, obtaining the identity document continues to be an uphill task for several government school students, particularly those from rural and tribal communities.

The department launched enrolment facilities across state schools in February 2024, in association with the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT).

Special camps were planned in over 37,500 schools to spare families long trips to external enrolment centres, with officials acknowledging the hardships faced by rural households.

However, parents and activists allege that ground-level implementation remains patchy. The biggest hurdle is faced by children from tribal communities and economically disadvantaged families who lack foundational supporting documents, primarily birth certificates, which are mandatory for registration.

"After almost a two-year struggle, we procured birth certificates for two Class 7 tribal students and 17 adults last month. Only now have we applied for their Aadhaar," said S Prabhakar, project coordinator at Thozhamai Trust, an organisation working on child welfare across the state.

Although school managements are expected to coordinate the collection and processing of papers, parents in many cases are still forced to navigate government offices and enrolment centres on their own.

Aadhaar is linked to crucial student welfare schemes, including scholarships and financial assistance. School-level camps were specifically intended to ensure children do not miss out on educational benefits due to missing documents.

Stakeholders have urged the department to strengthen school-level enrolment while establishing mechanisms to help students obtain basic documents like birth certificates first, failing which the burden will continue to fall disproportionately on vulnerable families.