By Aniruddha Sharma | New Delhi2 hours ago
The Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry id titled ‘APAAR ID’ issued to students will now also be useful for employment after their studies.
The Education Ministry updated the privacy policy on the APAAR portal on Thursday. Academic details can now be shared not just with educational institutions, but also with authorised third parties such as employers — meaning employers will be able to verify a student’s degree, marksheet and other records directly through APAAR’s data.
APAAR stores marksheets, grade sheets, diplomas, certificates and other academic achievements. The policy clarifies that APAAR may use third-party cloud service providers to store students’ personal data, and that data may be transferred to these providers to ensure availability, recovery and service continuity.
While elaborating on the issue, cyber expert and Supreme Court advocate Pawan Duggal informed that, employers will only be able to verify records after student consent, and data security continues to remain a key concern. While talking to Bhaskar, Duggal said,
1. Will verification happen without asking?
Answer: No. Students will provide their APAAR ID and other details in applications, but academic records won’t appear just by having the ID — verification happens only with the student’s consent.
2. What’s the process?
Answer: Employers must register as “verifiers,” then send a request to verify a specific document. The student is notified and approves it via OTP or e-sign, after which the employer can view the record.
3. Can employers see the full record?
Answer: No. Employers cannot browse APAAR records like a regular user. Certificates won’t open without student approval, and students can accept or reject verification requests for individual documents.
4. What’s the benefit?
Answer: Employers can check the authenticity of the degree and institution a candidate lists on their CV against the digital record, effectively ending the problem of fake degrees.
5. Are there privacy concerns?
Answer: Data security and cybersecurity remains a key concerns in third-party verification. The system will only be trustworthy if record security is guaranteed.
