What is an APAAR ID?

What the APAAR ID means

APAAR stands for Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry. It gives each student “a unique and permanent 12-digit ID”, and once made, the ID is added to the student’s DigiLocker.¹ It is meant to carry a student’s academic record across schools and later study.

The APAAR ID is built on the student’s UDISE+ record. The APAAR portal says the “PEN of student is mandatory for generation of APAAR ID”.² So a child needs a PEN first; our guide to the PEN number for students explains how a school gets one.

CBSE describes APAAR as part of the government’s “One Nation, One Student ID” programme, in line with NEP 2020.³

Where the school office meets it

• Consent from parents. For a minor, the steps on the portal include getting parental consent before the ID is made.¹
• The student’s UDISE+ record. The school handles the first creation and authentication of the ID.² Wrong details in UDISE+ stop it.
• Board registration. CBSE linked APAAR IDs to the class 9 and 11 registration data for 2025-26.³
• Parents’ questions. Once generated, the ID sits in the student’s DigiLocker account, so parents may already have it.

What the school has to do

1. Check that each student has a PEN. Without one, the APAAR ID cannot be generated.²
2. Match the details to Aadhaar before you start. The portal says the name in UDISE+ “must match with the name of the student as per Aadhaar”.²
3. Collect parents’ consent for minors, and keep it on file.
4. Record each student’s APAAR ID once it is made, beside the PEN.
5. For CBSE classes 9 and 11 in 2025-26, where parents refused consent, the school was told to keep a copy of the refusal and enter “REFUSED”. Where the ID could not be made for other reasons, it was to enter “NOGEN”.³
6. For 2026-27, CBSE asked schools to correct student details in Aadhaar, UDISE+ and school records, so that every student has an APAAR ID when the list of candidates is submitted.³

Scoolin keeps the PEN and APAAR ID on each student’s profile, and lets the office mark a refused consent, so the “REFUSED” cases are ready when the board asks.

Common mistakes

• Writing the APAAR ID where the PEN is asked for. The PEN has 11 digits; the APAAR ID has 12.
• Mixing it up with Aadhaar. Aadhaar also has 12 digits. Check which number a form wants before you fill it.
• Small spelling differences. CBSE lists “different data of a student in the school and in Aadhaar records” among the problems schools face in generating IDs.³ Fix the record first, then generate.
• No paper trail for a refusal. CBSE asked schools to keep a copy of the parents’ denial of consent.³ A verbal “no” is not enough.
• Treating the APAAR ID as a school number. It belongs to the student and stays with them. The school’s own number for a student is the admission number.

Related terms

• PEN: the 11-digit UDISE+ number the APAAR ID is generated against.
• UDISE+: the system that holds the student record.
• UDISE code: the school’s own 11-digit number.
• Migration certificate: another record CBSE now issues to DigiLocker.

Sources

1. APAAR, About APAAR. Back to the text
2. APAAR, frequently asked questions. Back to the text
3. CBSE, submission of registration data for classes 9 and 11, 2025-26, Annexure-J on APAAR IDs. Back to the text