Aadhaar Fail? Students to Get Benefits Anyway
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The lack of verification of Aadhaar by the Centralized System for Aadhaar Based Attendance Monitoring (ABA), which is used by a number of government-administered welfare schemes and scholarships, for over 200,000 Maharashtra students raises concerns regarding the digital identification process in the education sector. Though the validation was unsuccessful, the Union Education Ministry has assured the public that under federal government-sponsored schemes like Samagra Shiksha, PM Poshan, and others, students will continue to be qualified for benefits. Official statistics from the Ministry of Education as of June 26, 2025 indicate that 204,259 students in Maharashtra have still not completed their Aadhaar validation. The Lok Sabha session released this information in reaction to a question regarding the challenges in managing Aadhaar-based attendance and benefit distribution systems for children. Maharashtra has among the highest population numbers among any Indian state. This large number is especially striking given the percentage of pupils attending school in the state and the dependence of low-income families on government programs for education, food, and financial aid. The government has declared that no student will be refused benefits just for lack of Aadhaar verification even if the verification fails. The Ministry said that a student is not automatically denied welfare program benefits paid by the national or state administrations just because their Aadhaar number cannot be checked. Lower House Union Education Minister stated once again that the administration had instructed the continuing provision of free meals, scholarships, and other educational perks. Among the justifications given for the validation issue are biometric mismatches, old demographic data in Aadhaar databases, and technical problems at every level of attendance registration. Because of authentication problems, students who regularly cannot check in using the biometric systems linked to the Aadhaar platform have started to employ automated alerts in the system. Conversely, the Education Ministry has told schools and states to maintain manual records and guarantee that kids are not penalized for what could be a system-wide blunder. Working with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the Maharashtra state educational authorities have started evaluating the data of students who failed Aadhaar verification to find and correct any errors. Parents are urged to keep their children’s Aadhaar information, including their name, birth date, and, if necessary, their biometrics current in order to avoid comparable mistakes later on. With Aadhaar, this development also highlights the bigger argument on welfare distribution. Though the Aadhaar platform is intended to improve openness and remove fraudulent beneficiaries, experts have often voiced worries about exclusion errors brought on by authentication malfunctions. Children’s biometric data usually fluctuates over time, hence there are discrepancies and a greater likelihood of errors like these. Particularly people residing in low-income or rural areas. Responding to these issues, the federal administration has stated once more that Aadhaar use should not impede welfare. PM Poshan institutions have been told to keep supplying midday meals regardless of Aadhaar status and to award scholarships and prizes depending on eligibility. To make sure attendance systems are implemented fairly and flexibly, the Education Ministry is also running capacity-building workshops for school administrators. Though not to the same degree as Maharashtra, several other states have had problems with Aadhaar verification. At present, the Center is concentrating on streamlining the Aadhaar verification procedure for kids as well as on employing other means of verification when appropriate. Furthermore, there are plans to enhance the routes by which parents and kids could express complaints regarding Aadhaar. The program stressed the need of keeping inclusiveness in digital systems independent of their performance. Although Aadhaar simplifies the disbursement of welfare in some respects, its application in sensitive areas like school education calls first for student rights and ensures that administrative errors do not result in rights being denied. Thousands of pupils and their families have gotten some relief from the government’s clarification of this issue, which also demands for quick changes to the digital verification procedure.
