With an objective to arrest school drop outs and to keep a track of out-of-school children, the Centre is planning to ensure Aadhaar IDs for all children.

The decision to use the 12-digit ID to track children’s education was taken at the 65th Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) sub-committee at a meeting in New Delhi on January 15, 2018.

“The Centre and state governments have resolved to identify the number of children out of school in the country,” Union Minister for Human Resources Development Prakash Javadekar said while addressing the CAB sub-committee meeting.

“Linking children with their Aadhaar numbers and monitoring their attendance regularly is one of the ways that were discussed,” a CABE member said, adding, “It was decided that if a child is missing for two weeks or more, his/her whereabouts should be tracked and if the child is not coming to school, the school should inquire in the neighborhood.”

According to reports, the sub-committee on out-of-school children will submit its final report on January 31.

To improve the quality of education, the committee also decided to take steps such as opening of residential schools, setting up of girls’ colleges, smart classrooms, strengthening Mid-Day Meal scheme, use of CSR funds, aptitude tests along with Class X results, adolescent health programme training for teachers to prevent sexual offences.

Also read: Aadhaar to the rescue of out-of-school kids