BENGALURU: In a major data leak, the Karnataka education department put out on its website the Aadhaar numbers of 5,375 meritorious students who bagged the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMS) in March 2019.

The department of state education research and training (DSERT) also put out the mobile numbers and caste details of all the students from the state chosen for the central government scholarship, which provides Rs 12,000 annually for five years for 8th standard students from aided and government schools who qualify for the NMMS entrance exam.

Sources told TOI that Aadhaar details of the students are linked to the student achievement tracking system and hence the data showed up on one PDF page. “We had no clue that these crucial data would be out in public,” a teacher, who prepared students for the exam, said.

When TOI alerted UIDAI officials in Bengaluru, by sharing the downloaded files with them, the authorities said a communication would be sent to the education department to remove the data. Around 5pm, the Aadhaar numbers and the mobile numbers were removed by the department. However, the caste details continued to remain online.

