APAAR, ABC, NAD and DigiLocker for Developers
Compare academic identity, credits, awards, and document sharing. Choose an approved integration route for an education workflow and map who may use it.
Choose the education system by the task your product needs to complete. APAAR provides an academic identifier. The Academic Bank of Credits supports credit workflows. NAD supports academic awards. DigiLocker gives students a way to access and share documents.
The official APAAR FAQ describes how these systems relate. It also describes the role of schools and parental consent for minors in its published ID creation process. Official APAAR FAQ.
Match the task to its source
| Task | System to investigate | Application decision |
|---|---|---|
| Work with an academic identifier | APAAR | How to associate it with the correct student |
| Manage academic credits | Academic Bank of Credits | Which academic authority can use or change credits |
| Publish an academic award | NAD or approved issuer route | Which institution owns and releases the record |
| Request an issued document | Applicable DigiLocker requester route | Which document the user may share for the purpose |
| Verify an award | Approved NAD verifier route | How to handle consent, matches, and missing records |
The September 2026 DigiLocker requester revision adds APAAR-related entries. Confirm eligibility, version, and permissions before planning any specific API operation. Requester v2.4 specification
Work through a transfer scenario
A synthetic transfer portal needs a learner account, evidence of a prior award, and a decision about recognising credits. The learner account belongs to the portal. The award may come from the approved institutional route. The receiving institution decides which credits it accepts.
Map each decision to its owner. Preserve the distinction in the interface. A learner can complete account setup while academic evidence remains under review.
Define access for minors and representatives
Identify who is acting at each step. A student, parent, school operator, and reviewer can have different permissions. Review the official process for the particular workflow and your own data obligations.
Keep the sharing request specific. An academic identifier can help match a record where the process permits it. Access still depends on the approved route and applicable consent or authority.
Plan the smallest useful integration
- Describe the academic task.
- Identify the institution responsible for the source data.
- Confirm the available integration route.
- Define who may submit or view evidence.
- Test how the application handles a missing record.
Use this map before building a broad education profile. Academic award verification workflow.
Review education workflows with NamoID
NamoID engineers can help map student, guardian, and staff accounts to application permissions. Share a synthetic workflow, the system you plan to use, and the decision your application needs to make. Message the NamoID team in Slack