Union Minister of Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan, attended the National Conference on APAAR: One Nation One Student ID Card in New Delhi. While speaking at the event, Mr. Pradhan emphasized how the APAAR ID is going to be the global document for the students of the country. Highlighting the importance of several important DPIs developed in the country in recent years, he mentioned how 53 such DPIs have been developed in 16 countries, out of which 19 are in India.
Mr. Pradhan underscored the importance of the interconnectivity of APAAR IDs, Academic Bank of Credit, and Digilocker, creating ease of operations. He also mentioned the other important digital assets like Swayam, DIKSHA, etc. He also highlighted the role of NEP2020 in incorporating the provisions of migration and integration without compromising on the quality of education. It is important to make competency aspirational, which comes through skilling, along with knowledge, he also said.
While addressing the Conference Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, highlighted the wide reach of the APAAR ID, befitting the meaning of the word in Hindi. He also mentioned the vision of NEP2020 mentioning some of its significant recommendations such as ensuring 100% GER till Class 12 and having proficiency in at least one skill, aligned with the needs of the industry. He also said that APAAR helps in tracking the vast pool of 260 million students in the country. He informed that a Permanent Education Number for 25 crore children and based on that they have been issued APAAR ID.
Sanjay Murthy, Secretary, Higher Education, Ministry of Education, in his speech mentioned the advantages of having the APAAR IDs and another important DPI, Samarth, its deployment, access, and seamless connection with APAAR. He urged every institution to adopt the Samarth platform as well. He also informed about the Swayam platform and its new version to be launched soon will have content from leading industries to provide relevant courses. For recognition and validation a digital record will be needed, he emphasized.
Two panel discussions on addressing the integration of APAAR ID and Credit Systems with Job Profiles and on exploring the evolving role of DigiLocker in education were conducted during the event.
The Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) is a transformative initiative introduced in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) of 2020 and the National Credit and Qualifications Framework (NCrF). It aims to provide a unified and accessible academic experience for students across India by assigning a unique and permanent 12-digit ID to every student, consolidating their academic achievements in one place.
