UDISE, SARAL portals combined, reduces workload for schools

Information like the principal’s name, phone number, and email id, along with the school’s location, address, longitude and latitude, has to be entered in the online portal. Physical infrastructure like the school building, washrooms for boys and girls, drinking water facility, playground, library, electrical facilities, boundary walls, playground, computers, and laboratories must also be mentioned.

Details of all students passing from class 2 to class 12 must also be updated. Benefits given to students like free uniforms, free textbooks, 25% RTE admissions, disabled students, scholarships, etc, must also be updated.

The principal in-charge of a Pune Municipal Corporation-run school, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Indian Express, “Combining UDISE+ and SARAL will definitely reduce the workload of principals and teachers. However, the government should reduce more online work as it eats into teachers’ teaching time. Online information filling like DBT, VSK Chat bot, daily student attendance, midday meal attendance, etc, take up a lot of time and teachers are not able to give time to teaching adequately.”

The circular mentioned that 95 per cent of students who were enrolled the previous academic year have had their Aadhar registered and that in the current academic year, the newly enrolled students’ Aadhar cards must also be validated. It also mentioned that 86% students in the previous academic year had registered for the APAAR ID and for students not yet registered, permission should be obtained from the parents and the registration should be completed.

It is important to note that the APAAR ID is not mandatory. A document on its website clearly stated, “APAAR is not mandatory. While APAAR is a cornerstone initiative for enhancing academic tracking and flexibility, participation in the APAAR system is not compulsory. Institutions and students can choose to utilize this system to benefit from its features, such as holistic assessment and credit management, but there is no legal requirement mandating its use.”

The circular states that 93% teachers have completed their Aadhar validation. Any teachers that face difficulties in validating their Aadhar should check if the details match. Teachers’ educational details like D.Ed, B.Ed, M.Ed or other qualifications must also be accurately recorded.