The proposed OER is a repository of academic and skills-based achievements of students, faculty, and institutions. (representative image)
The initiative is in line with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which provides for an authentic digital database in the form of an education ecosystem register. It is being developed under the union ministry of education along with other government stakeholders including NIC and UIDAI
Students and teachers at all levels across the country will be given single, common identities authenticated by Aadhaar as a national repository under the Education Ecosystem Registry (EEA) scheme, which will be launched Aug. 15, a top official said.
The scheme being launched under the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) proposes a digital registry for all students (from primary school to higher education), teachers and faculty members in schools, colleges, universities and institutes, both government and private, in addition to educational institutions, academic and industrial partners, including start-ups under one umbrella.
The initiative is in line with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which provides for an authentic digital database in the form of an education ecosystem register. It is being developed under the union ministry of education along with other government stakeholders including NIC and UIDAI.
The proposed OER is a repository of academic and skills-based achievements of students, faculty, and institutions. It enables users to verify and maintain their data by digitally transforming the education sector. It enables a unified system for stakeholders to track learning outcomes and inform policy-making processes.
According to officials, however, it is not yet mandatory for institutions to provide their data, but they will be asked to actively participate in the register.
“The OER portal is ready. The types of fields to be kept in the database and other technical details can be worked out by the respective departments in consultation with the Steering Committee,” said Prof. Anil Saharabudhe, President of NETF.
Last year, a steering group led by Sahasrabudhe was formed with members from key ministries and other agencies to carry out the registration project. The register enables important links with other departments and datasets, including Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), where student documents are stored digitally.
“Having a National Education Registry is extremely important to connect all learners, education providers and institutions across the country for tracking key performance indicators and an authentic database that enables efficient exchange of verified and updated information makes. It will help diverse groups with diverse needs gain fair access, track students’ journey and empower them through policy interventions,” he said.
After detailed discussions, he added, it was decided that there is a need for a single, common, student and faculty registry for all departments. It should not be the case that a student at school has a different ID and when the same student is at a university or other higher education institution, he/she has a different ID.
“The idea is that there should be a unique, single, common ID for data authentication (available as digitally signed certificates). The student registry will assign the ID based on Aadhaar authentication by UIDAI, which will be used as a common, digital ID for the student registry.
For those who don’t want to give Aadhaar details, PAN authenticated or ABC IDs can be issued as common ID for students and teachers. ABC IDs have already been issued to some of the students and teachers.
In the case of state governments, which maintain their own data, they may continue to do so provided they follow the same standard and structure as given in the EEA so that it can be shared via APIs (Application Programming Interface that allow exchange of data between two systems ).