What is the purpose of the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) introduced by the central government for school children?

Solution

The central government has begun the process of introducing a new unique identification for school children that will enable them to digitally store their academic achievements and credit scores. The Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry or APAAR, which will be linked to the students' Aadhar ID, has been envisaged as a universal mechanism for recording and retrieving data and documents related to students' progress throughout their academic journey. Through this unique ID, the students will be able to store everything from their exam results to add-on courses to their accomplishments in sports and co-curricular activities in Digilocker, the government's digital wallet, and use them in the future for higher education and employment. The initiative is part of an effort under the National Education Policy (NEP) to bring flexibility to the education system by allowing students to seamlessly move across institutes and disciplines. The government has already introduced APAAR IDs for college students to access the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), an online repository of credit scores, and is now bringing it to the school level.