Compliance
APAAR ID and PEN: what a school actually has to do
Three identifiers now follow an Indian school learner: the UDISE+ record the school maintains, the PEN that identifies the learner within it, and the APAAR ID that is meant to carry their academic credits for life. The official material explains the policy; it is less clear about the office work. This guide covers what each one is, who issues it, what the school collects, and how to hold the numbers without creating a data-protection problem.
What each identifier actually is
They are often discussed as one thing. They are not, and the difference decides who is responsible for what.
- UDISE+ is the national school information system. The school owns its own UDISE+ record and updates it; the code identifies the SCHOOL, not the learner.
- PEN — Permanent Education Number — identifies a LEARNER within UDISE+, so a transfer between schools does not create a second person.
- APAAR ID is the learner's lifelong academic account, intended to hold credits and certificates across institutions. It is derived through the learner's own verified identity, not issued by the school.
- The practical consequence: the school generates and maintains UDISE+ and PEN data, and FACILITATES APAAR rather than issuing it.
The office work, in order
Treat this as an admissions-season task rather than a one-off drive. Collected at admission, it is five minutes per learner; collected later, it is a term of chasing families who have already stopped answering the school's calls.
- Get the school's own UDISE+ record current first — enrolment, staff, facilities. A stale school record blocks everything downstream.
- Make the identifier fields part of the admission form, not an afterthought.
- Obtain explicit, written consent from the parent or guardian for the identity data you collect, stating what it is used for.
- Verify spelling and date of birth against the document, once, at the counter. A mismatch found later costs far more to fix than it does to prevent.
- Record which learners are still missing an identifier, and treat that list as a task with an owner rather than a report.
- Re-check at transfer: a transfer certificate without the learner's PEN moves the problem to the next school.
Storing the numbers without creating a liability
This is the part the compliance material does not cover and where schools get into trouble. An identity number in a spreadsheet on an office desktop is a data-protection incident waiting for a stolen laptop, and under India's Digital Personal Data Protection framework a school holding children's identity data is a data fiduciary with real obligations.
- Never keep identity numbers in a shared spreadsheet or a messaging group
- Encrypt the sensitive ones at rest, and keep them out of any export that does not need them
- Restrict who can read them by role: a class teacher does not need an Aadhaar number
- Keep the consent record with the data, not in a separate file
- Keep an access log, so you can answer who looked at what
- Decide a retention period for the identity fields of a learner who has left, and apply it
How Classfold holds these
A learner's profile in Classfold has dedicated fields for APAAR ID and PEN alongside the academic record, so the identifiers live with the learner rather than in a parallel spreadsheet. The Aadhaar number is stored encrypted at rest rather than as plain text, field-level access follows the role permissions the institute sets, and the identifiers can be included in a report export for a UDISE+ submission without being exposed on screens that do not need them.
- APAAR ID and PEN as first-class fields on the learner profile
- Aadhaar number encrypted at rest, not stored in clear text
- Role-based visibility, so a class teacher sees the roll and not the identity numbers
- Report export including the identifiers, for a submission, without widening day-to-day access
- One record per learner, so a transfer carries the identifier rather than losing it
Everything in one place
What the platform covers
Identifiers on the learner record
APAAR ID and PEN stored with the academic record, not in a spreadsheet beside it.
Encrypted where it matters
Aadhaar is encrypted at rest and kept out of exports and screens that have no need for it.
Collected at admission
Identifier fields sit on the admission form, so the data arrives while the family is still at the counter.
Questions, answered
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between PEN and APAAR ID?
PEN identifies a learner inside the UDISE+ school information system, so a transfer between schools does not create a duplicate learner. APAAR ID is the learner's own lifelong academic account, meant to carry credits and certificates across institutions. The school maintains PEN data; APAAR is derived through the learner's own verified identity.
Is APAAR ID mandatory for school students?
It is being rolled out nationally as part of the National Education Policy's academic credit framework, and schools are being asked to facilitate it, but the specifics and the deadlines are set by your state and board rather than uniformly. Check your board's current circular: this is an area where the requirement has moved more than once.
Can a school generate an APAAR ID on a parent's behalf?
No. The school facilitates — it collects consent, verifies that the learner's details match their documents, and keeps the resulting identifier on the record. The ID itself is derived from the learner's own verified identity, which is why a name or date-of-birth mismatch in your records blocks it.
What happens if a learner's details do not match?
The identifier cannot be derived until they do, and the correction has to happen on the identity document, not in your register. This is the strongest practical argument for verifying spelling and date of birth once, at the admission counter, against the original document.
Does Classfold submit to UDISE+ for us?
No. Classfold holds the identifiers and the enrolment data and can export them for a submission, but the submission itself is made by the school on the government portal. Any product claiming to file on your behalf is worth asking hard questions about.
Do families need to install an app to receive this?
No. Classfold has no parent app and no parent login. Notices, fee dues, attendance alerts and results go to families over WhatsApp, SMS and email under your institute's own name, so there is nothing for them to download or remember a password for.
What does Classfold cost?
Plans are published in full and priced by learner count, starting at ₹180/month for up to 90 learners. There is no implementation fee and no quote-only tier except the custom one for very large networks. See the pricing page.