PUNE: It’s the admission season and parents wantig to apply to various schools have a peculiar stress to deal with.Authorities of some schools are demanding Aadhaar from the students even when it is not mandatory. A city school on its website states that Aadhaar card is compulsory, but when contacted said it was not. However, parents who have applied to the school have not been told about it.In September 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of Aadhaar but clipped the scope of the biometric identity project, ruling that it was not mandatory for bank accounts, cellphone connections or school admissions.UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pande said that school admission and other facilities cannot be made conditional to production of Aadhaar. Eve n so, all pre-school and nursery admissions have been demanding Aadhaar card, he added. The SC verdict emphasised that it would not be mandatory for school admission and for examinations.But parents like Sharon Fernandes wanted admission for her three-and-a-half-year-old son in a school, she was told categorically that the school had received a circular stating that Aadhaar card was compulsory.“I had to rush to the nearest Aadhaar centre where I was given a token and told to return on a date later than the admission date. I fear that I might not be able to apply,’’she said.Many other parents had similar experiences. many more are unsure about use of Aadhaar for academic purposes. ‘It is mandatory for even pre-school admissions. We tried giving the birth certificate and our documents and they refused to give admission till we produced the Aadhaar,’’ a harried mother said.Sources from the education department told TOI that nobody can be denied admission if Aadhaar is not given as alternatives have to be provided.“We have state that nobody should be denied admission,”senior officials from the education department said, adding that they would eventually issue a directive to all schools about it.UIDAI officials said demanding Aadhaar is not as per the law and school admission and other facilities to children cannot be made conditional to production of Aadhaar.

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