Subir Ghosh reports:
The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights has ordered an inquiry into the allegation that a coercive circular by the Kerala government to its public education department was meant to deploy an online school management software called “Sampoorna” in schools across the State in a manner that it would violate the right to privacy and dignity of children in the state.
In a letter to the Secretary of the Education Department, Govternment of Kerala, the NCPCR on Friday asked the department to investigate the matter and take further necessary action. A factual report, along with authenticated copies of the relevant documents, would have to be sent to the Commission within 15 days.
[…]
The Commision’s move came following a complaint filed in August this year by civil society activists Kamayani Bali Mahabal, Anivar Aravind and Usha Ramanathan drawing attention to a circular, based on which details of as many as 6 million students spanning over 15,000 schools in the state would be captured under the scheme. All schoolchildren would have had to have unique identification numbers (UID), which would help in tracking their movements in educational institutions and academic records. The circular said, “The headmasters of the schools should ensure that all students have filled in the forms before 31/08/2011, ordered by class and division. The education officers are directed to monitor these explicitly.”
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