heavy burden of proof

Herculean task: If students do not have a bank account to receive welfare assistance, schools must open a post office account for them. It is impossible to open a post office account without Aadhaar or other identity documents. , Photo Courtesy: C. Venkatachalapathi

R., a class five student of a government school in Chennai. Teachers have been asking Mikel to get an Aadhar card made for the last four years. This will help them complete their admission formalities and open a bank account to avail scholarships offered by the Government of Tamil Nadu. However, Mikel does not have a birth certificate, which is mandatory to obtain an Aadhaar card. Mikel’s parents are daily wage laborers from Bihar who do odd jobs in Chennai. “We have asked the parents to bring the birth certificate from Bihar so that we can get Aadhaar prepared for it. This will help them complete the admission process. This will show that he is a student in school, which will give him the opportunity to further his education,” says Mikel’s teacher.

But his parents are reluctant to go home and complete the formalities. “It would mean losing my salary. Salary helps us to run our life. How can we leave work to get the documents? Who will pay us?” says Mikel’s father Ram S. Mikel’s story is not alone. Without Aadhaar cards or other identity documents, teachers are finding it difficult to enroll children of migrant workers in government schools.

In 2019, the School Education Department mandated that the Aadhaar number of every student be linked to the Educational Management Information System (EMIS). Although the certificate is not required to admit a student under the Right to Education (RTE) Act of 2009, EMIS requires schools to maintain attendance and submit Aadhaar, community certificate, birth certificate in addition to awards won. And documents like birth certificate need to be uploaded. Kalaithiruvizha competitions. A complete profile means that a student is successfully enrolled.

“But most of the students do not have Aadhaar cards and some do not even have birth certificates. This means we cannot complete the admission formalities. We get four or more calls a day from the department asking us to enter Aadhaar details,” says a teacher at a government school in Mogappair, Chennai.

case of twins

A 12 year old girl Vaishnavi S. She turns to him, points out a Tamil word in his notebook and asks him to help her pronounce it. “That is the uru (place),” answers Vaishnavi, a Class 4 student of a government school in Chennai. Vaishnavi and Bhavani, both 12 years old, are twins. Their father has been trying to get Aadhaar cards made for both of them for three years, but the problem is that the twins do not have birth certificates. Although his father’s family members have been living in Chennai for years, his mother moved to the city from Uttar Pradesh after marriage. So, she went back to her parents’ home in Uttar Pradesh for the delivery.

“We did not get the birth certificate. So, when the school told us that Aadhaar card is required for admission of children, we knew we had to visit our village. We can’t do that because my husband can’t leave his daily wage job as a painter,” says his mother Rindha Devi.

So the school gave them a genuine certificate stating that the student was a resident of Tamil Nadu and was studying in the school. It was expected that his father would take leave later and would bring the Aadhar card for him.

“Earlier this year, the application was passed. But only Vaishnavi got the Aadhar card. Bhavani did not. The officials suspected that we were making duplicate Aadhaar as most of the details were similar and their faces were similar. So Bhavani does not have a card. They are not even accepting genuine certificates anymore. We are tired of wandering from door to door,” says Ms. Rindha Devi.

In June this year, the department launched the Aadhaar initiative through schools to ensure that every child in the school system gets an Aadhaar card and opens a bank account linked to Aadhaar. However, most of the children of migrant workers could not do so due to various reasons – missing documents, no digital copy of the birth certificate, different addresses and wrong pincodes.

linkage important

A bank account is crucial for students to avail welfare benefits – be it the ₹500 given to students from most backward classes and marginalized communities from Class 3 onwards or the ₹500 per month given to higher secondary students under the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s talent hunt. The amount to be given should be ₹1,000. Examination However, it is mandatory to link the bank account with Aadhaar. “My child, Umang, was born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. Through the initiative, we decided to get Aadhaar card for UMANG. The officer refused to give us the Aadhar card because my child’s name was written in Hindi in the birth certificate. All details except his name on the birth certificate were in English. He asked me to bring a card from my village,” says Sonam Pandey, mother of a Class 3 student.

Deepak Guhain from Assam has been working in Chennai for the last two years. He is trying to get an Aadhaar card for his son, but the officials insist on a digital copy of the birth certificate. “I can’t afford to leave work to go back to Assam to get it. I don’t know what to do,” he says.

teacher in trouble

“We tried to counsel parents and do constant follow-up to ensure that every student completes the formalities; But, since they are daily wage labourers, it is difficult. Had they been born here, we would have helped,” says a teacher at a government school in Mogappair.

The teachers say that they will give a genuine certificate so that the child can pursue further education. “But this certificate cannot be used anymore. Formalities (such as uploading Aadhaar) must be completed as proof of student population of a school. There are more than 20 children of migrant workers in our school, but we cannot provide proof of enrollment on EMIS. This will make the department accept that we have less student strength and our teachers can be sent out,” says a teacher at a government school in Shenoy Nagar, Chennai.

When the child enters class ten, the teacher has to constantly monitor them to ensure that they are able to appear for the examination. In 2018, the Supreme Court directed that Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory for writing exams or for enrollment. However, teachers say this is not the case in Tamil Nadu. While no students have been denied welfare benefits, education or their right to sit exams, the path to access for all of them has been far from smooth.

“In primary school, the teacher must have entered zero in the Aadhaar card field to make valid entry in EMIS. A student is automatically transferred to class 10th. Then the real work begins. Last year, a teacher traveled with some students to their birthplace to get their birth certificates and then ensured that they got their Aadhaar cards. Only then can students take the exam,” says a teacher at a government school in Puzhal, Chennai.

S., a migrant worker from Bihar. Rakesh has settled in Periyar Pudur of Salem. “With the help of the homeowners, we were able to get the bill for the LPG cylinder,” he says. Using this, we are changing our address in Aadhaar and it is also used for our children to get Aadhaar cards,” he says.

Casual laborers entering the state find it difficult to obtain Aadhaar cards to enroll their children in primary school. “They do not have address proof as they live in small houses provided in the factory. Since they are new to the job, even the owners do not help them,” says Mr Rakesh.

a task for schools

“Schools can compile a list of students who do not have documents and take it with the collector and the revenue department to ensure that they get their Aadhaar cards. We are ensuring that Aadhaar cards of school students are linked to EMIS as this will help them in getting scholarships in class VI and IX. “We have covered 30 lakh children so far and hope to complete the process by January,” says a senior official of the school education department.

Subulakshmi, a field worker with Social Awareness and Voluntary Education (SAVE), an NGO in Tiruppur, meets 75 children of migrant workers in Koilavazhi in Tiruppur district almost every day. His parents work in Tiruppur Corporation. All of them are from the areas bordering Karnataka-Maharashtra. “The elderly go to work early in the morning and return home by 2 or 3 in the afternoon. They cannot take a day off or miss work to get Aadhaar cards made for their children,” says Ms Subulakshmi.

Founder of SAVE A. Aloysius says there is a lack of awareness among parents about the need for Aadhaar for registering children in school. “They will have the card, but will not share the details; They may have left the cards at home; They will not even remember whether they have secured an Aadhaar card for the child or not; They won’t have proper identification to get it here. There is always a feeling of fear and uncertainty among them,” he says. “So, these children are left out of the education system.”

a universal problem

Getting Aadhaar card made is difficult not only for the children of migrant workers but also for some local residents and nomadic tribes. “We get children from the Adhiyan community, known as Boom Boom Mattukarar,” says a teacher at a government higher secondary school in Nagapattinam. Since they do not have community certificates, they cannot access education and jobs. As their families move from one district to another to sell toys and bangles, they also take their children with them. When they try to enroll their children in a government school, it becomes impossible because they do not have Aadhaar, birth, caste and birth certificates.

If students do not have a bank account, the school will have to open a post office account for them for EMIS. It is impossible to open a post office account without Aadhaar or other identity documents. A minimum deposit of ₹200 is also required. “If it is for a child, it can be managed. But how many children can I support,” asks the headmaster of a school in the Cauvery delta district.

A teacher from Karur helped a student from Kallodar community to take admission. This community does rock cutting work on a large scale. Since the student’s parents did not have a mobile phone, she gave her number for Aadhaar verification.

(With inputs from M. Soundaryariya Preetha from Coimbatore, M. Sabari from Salem and Nacchinarakkinian M. from Tiruchi.)