Indian children without Aadhaar digital ID shut out of school

Nine-year-old Rakhi and her two siblings should be in school, but instead they spend afternoons watching cartoons on their father’s phone at home in the north Indian city of Lucknow.

Since they moved last year to Lucknow from Hardoi, about 110 km (68 miles) away, the children have been denied admission at a local school because they do not have Aadhaar, the biometric identity card issued by the Indian government.

They are among tens of millions of poor children who risk exclusion from school or benefits programmes because they do not have the digital ID card.

Published by Saurabh Sharma and Rina Chandran in Reuters.