The Centre has lauded Andhra Pradesh’s technology-driven education governance model, particularly its Aadhaar-based Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for transparent delivery of student welfare benefits, with officials indicating that the system could be considered for replication across the country.Samagra Shiksha State Project Director B. Srinivasa Rao presented the State’s digital education reforms before senior officials of the Union Ministry of Education in New Delhi on Wednesday, highlighting Andhra Pradesh’s ‘One Student–One Aadhaar’ initiative, which created an integrated digital ecosystem for the seamless delivery of student welfare schemes.The Aadhaar-enabled platform is being used to implement several welfare programmes, including Thalliki Vandanam through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), besides integrating more than eight major schemes such as PM SHRI, scholarships, sanitary napkin distribution, transportation support and assistance for Children with Special Needs (CWSN).According to Mr. Srinivasa Rao, the system eliminates duplicate beneficiaries, strengthens record management, enhances monitoring and ensures transparent, end-to-end service delivery.The officials were also given a live demonstration of the digital distribution of the Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyarthi Mitra student kits through video conference from the Samagra Shiksha State Office in Vijayawada. The demonstration showcased the Aadhaar and biometric authentication-based distribution of student kits containing uniforms, textbooks, notebooks, school bags, shoes and other learning materials.Under the system, distribution begins only after the Headmaster certifies that the complete kit is ready, following which parents receive SMS alerts. Beneficiaries are authenticated through biometric verification or Aadhaar-based OTP, and a digital acknowledgement is generated upon successful delivery, ensuring complete transparency and preventing misuse.The department has also developed a real-time dashboard to monitor the movement of student kits from manufacturing units to schools, with tracking available to officials at every administrative level, including District Collectors, District Educational Officers, Mandal Educational Officers and Headmasters.Impressed by the technology-enabled governance model, senior officials of the Ministry of Education described Andhra Pradesh’s digital education ecosystem as a best practice and said it could serve as a model for implementation at the national level. Published - July 15, 2026 08:33 pm IST