BMC warns 100 headmasters in Mumbai of disciplinary action

It was found that many students in BMC schools do not have aadhaar cards. File pic/Ashish Raje

The BMC education officer has sent notices to 100 school headmasters in Mumbai, warning of disciplinary action against them for not updating the Aadhaar card data of students. The state had asked schools to update aadhaar details of students on its portal so they can avail of various schemes like the midday meal as well as to appoint teachers as per the number of students. But it was found that many students in BMC schools do not have aadhaar cards, while others have cards with errors. The headmasters' association says that teachers cannot be blamed for students who don't have aadhaar cards or have cards with errors.

Why it is mandatory

The registration of students with their Aadhaar numbers is mandatory on student portals for all government, aided, and unaided schools. The card has been made mandatory from January 2023 to avail of benefits like the mid-day meal scheme. Even text books, uniforms and other facilities are based on the Aadhaar details. The registration process is carried out by schools and teachers every year. As per the latest data, there are 3,18,002 students enrolled for the year 2021-22 in BMC schools out of which about 35,000 students' Aadhaar cards haven't been updated till date.

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BMC Education Officer Rajesh Kankal sent notices to headmasters this week. The notice said that the order asked for Aadhaar details at schools to be updated till December 5, but even after continuous follow-ups, they haven't taken the task seriously and this affected the Mumbai education department ranking at state level. If the work is not completed immediately disciplinary action will be taken for negligence.

Mahendra Ganpule, spokesperson, Maharashtra State Principals' Federation, said, "Teachers and headmasters have been helping out students and their parents in every way to get Aadhaar cards. If the state is pushing hard for it, then they must make Aadhaar mandatory for taking admission to schools."

Another headmaster of a BMC school said, "We have been trying to get students Aadhaar cards as they are useful for them. But there are multiple issues like biometric fingerprint scanners that don't work, several errors in the names of students and parents, dates of birth, addresses and other personal information. How can the government hold us responsible for students not having Aadhaar cards or errors in data on them?"

‘Many excuses put forth'

Surekha Patil, ex-corporator and a member of the BMC education committee said, "We raised the Aadhaar card issue many times and requested the administration to at least hold Aadhaar card camps in schools for students. But every time they would come up with some excuse and told us that the school rooms cannot be allotted for Aadhaar camps. In Kandivli there is just one centre at the post office where only 30 cards are updated every day. How can teachers or headmasters be responsible for a student's Aadhaar card?"

Kankal said, "We have sent notices to 100 school principals who had the lowest updated data. We started the drive on December 4, when the data of 1.44 lakh out of 7 lakh students from all aided, non-aided and BMC schools wasn't updated. Now this number is down to 70,000." He added, "Around 35,000 BMC school students' data hasn't been updated yet but we haven't received any information from schools on whether the students have or don't have aadhaar cards. We have focused on data updating, errors and mismatch of data, which will be tackled afterwards."

35,000
No. of BMC school students whose data hasn't been updated yet