Maharashtra’s school education system is grappling with a serious issue as more than 10 lakh students may be marked “out of school” due to Aadhaar validation errors on the national UDISE Plus portal. As per official figures, out of 2,14,68,288 students registered, only 2,09,69,529 have submitted their Aadhaar details. Among them, 2,03,21,408 Aadhaar numbers have been successfully verified, while 5,78,433 were declared invalid. Additionally, 4,98,759 students have not shared their Aadhaar details, and 69,688 records remain under verification, putting their school enrolment status at serious risk.
Overall, nearly 10,77,000 students could be marked as “out of school” in official records even though they are attending classes regularly. The School Education Department has made Aadhaar linking on the UDISE Plus database mandatory for every student, as it affects teacher deployment, grant distribution, and infrastructure planning. Teachers’ associations and education experts, as reported by *Loksatta*, have criticized this approach, saying that such technical discrepancies violate the Right to Education (RTE) Act and could wrongly label active students as dropouts.
Experts warn that the Aadhaar-linked classification system might cause major disruptions in schools, especially in rural and semi-urban areas. Many fear that if students are wrongly marked as unenrolled, schools could face staff reductions, loss of government grants, and even closure. Education department officials have acknowledged these concerns and stated that steps are being taken to rectify mismatched or invalid data. Schools have been directed to revalidate and update student records immediately to prevent further administrative complications.
This situation underscores the growing dependence on digital systems like UDISE Plus and Aadhaar for managing education data. While intended to streamline processes and improve accountability, such reliance on centralized digital databases also exposes schools to risks when technical errors occur. The ongoing crisis highlights the need for robust data verification mechanisms and flexible administrative policies to ensure that technology does not undermine students’ access to education.