Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Shri Sanjay Kumar; Secretary, Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Shri K. Sanjay Murthy; and MD-CEO, CSC SPV, Shri Sanjay Rakesh jointly launched APAAR (Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry) through Common Service Centres (CSCs) in remote villages of the country today. The objective of APAAR is ‘One Nation, One Student ID’. APAAR has been conceptualized under the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) in which all college/university-going students are required to register on ABC, i.e., Academic Bank of Credits. According to the new rule, it is necessary to have an ABC ID to take admission to any college or university.

Launching the scheme through CSC, Shri Sanjay Kumar said that the number of digital services in the country is continuously increasing and one can take maximum advantage of digital services in school education through CSC. He also said that all school children should be given provisional APAAR ID immediately and it should be authenticated with Aadhaar and linked to Digi Locker. A business model for this service for Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) is also being considered, he added. He emphasised that this system will make school education and higher education more transparent and easier.

Shri K. Sanjay Murthy, on the new technology platforms rolled out by the government, emphasized that Samarth, Swayam and Diksha (at school level) are being leveraged for the benefit of the students. ‘Samarth’ is being launched in many of the institutions and it will be ensured that at least 10,000 institutions in the next 1.5 years are covered, he said. He also said that the role of CSCs in APAAR and Samarth will be significant. Shri Murthy emphasised that the Academic Bank of Credits has been established on the lines of the National Academic Depository (NAD). Despite the fact that ABC enables students to register or commence credit transfer, the final outcomes of credit redemption and issuance of certificates as well as the compilation of award records are administered by academic institutions, he added.

Shri Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education, said that APAAR ID will remain with the children for their entire life. Students will also be able to get credit in future by passing various exams, he explained. Students will not be required to give certificates anywhere and just giving APAAR ID will be sufficient, he added.

Welcoming guests during the event, Shri Sanjay Rakesh said that there is a great need to popularize APAAR ID. The VLEs will go to schools and enrol students and will provide them with APAAR ID, he informed. He also said that this is a revolutionary initiative in which all the records of students can be connected in one place. This will also curb illegal activities. There are many schools that don’t have the infrastructure for online services. CSC VLEs will be a great help to them in this regard, he said.

What is the Academic Bank of Credit?

ABC is a digital repository or digital storage. Students can easily avail its benefits. For this service, the student does not need to go anywhere else but to the nearest CSC. In this digital credit bank, all the credits, i.e., marks scored by the students and all their personal information will be available.

With the help of this ID, it will be easy for all the students to take admission from one institute to another for graduation and post-graduation. Universities will now be able to access all the data of students with one click with the help of ABC ID.

It is a storehouse of credits earned by an individual student throughout his or her learning. This storehouse is virtual or digital. It contains complete information about all the studies done by the student in any institution, his/her performance and mainly the credits obtained by the student. They can use them at many places and in many ways throughout their studies. The suggestion to bring the Academic Bank of Credit in education was given in the NEP 2020.

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