The Delhi Education Directorate has directed all schools to ensure that students receiving assistance under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes have Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, after errors in beneficiary details led to delays and failed payments.
The instruction covers students receiving financial assistance for items including uniforms, books and scholarships. The department has asked schools to achieve 100% Aadhaar seeding of eligible students’ bank accounts and correct discrepancies in bank account details and other beneficiary records.
According to the directive, the Education Directorate provides financial assistance to students under four schemes through the Public Financial Management System (PFMS). The department has made available on its portal lists of beneficiaries whose payments are pending or have encountered errors. Schools have been asked to verify the details of these students and correct bank-related problems.
After any correction, schools must also ensure that the revised bank account is correctly linked to the student’s Aadhaar details. The directive places responsibility on school principals to examine student records and help resolve the problems preventing payments from being processed.
The department has asked Regional Directors of Education to coordinate with district- and zone-level officials to complete the exercise. Regional directors will also be responsible for monitoring progress and ensuring that pending cases are resolved at district and school levels.
Schools have been instructed to organise awareness and assistance camps for students and parents. These camps are intended to explain the Aadhaar-seeding process and help families complete the formalities required for DBT payments. The move places schools at the centre of the correction process, rather than leaving families to resolve payment failures without institutional support.
The Education Directorate said discrepancies in beneficiary information had resulted in payment errors. The latest instructions seek to address those errors by combining record verification, bank account correction and Aadhaar linkage before payments are processed.
District authorities have also been asked to submit weekly progress reports. These reports must include details of corrections made in the bank accounts of students whose DBT payments contain errors, as well as the status of Aadhaar seeding. The directive does not specify in the supplied report when all pending payments will be released, but it establishes weekly monitoring of the correction exercise.
