May19: ICSE and ISC candidates will have their certificates and mark sheets digitally saved on the Internet from this year.

They would be able to access them anytime, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations announced today.

All affiliated schools will have the facility that would be linked with the unique identification details of a student and his/her Aadhaar number.

"Digital locker is a service that provides dedicated personal electronic space in a government-owned public cloud storage where an individual can keep their documents, files or certificates," Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the council, said.

In addition to hard copies, the council will provide digitally signed mark sheets and certificates via DigiLocker from this year, Arathoon said.

Candidates will have to create an account with DigiLocker through https://digilocker.gov.in. After logging in to the DigiLocker account, candidates can follow the instructions to access the documents. Registration certificates, admit cards, mark sheets and pass certificates of ICSE and ISC students will be uploaded on the system.

"The digitally uploaded documents will be tamper-proof and students can use it for any official purpose," Nabarun Dey, a member of the council's executive committee and principal of Central Model School, said.

Those who don't have an Aadhaar number won't have their documents digitally saved, Dey said.

The council has been asking students their Aadhaar numbers during registration in Class IX for the past few years. "The council didn't make Aadhaar mandatory. But this year we have asked Class VIII students of our school to get their Aadhaar cards so that all can use the DigiLocker," Dey said.

The council has partnered with the ministry of electronics and information technology to provide this free facility. Individuals can also download or share their details online.

A couple of months ago some principals of CBSE schools in Bengal were called for a meeting in Delhi. They were told about DigiLocker and that the central board would introduced it.

"It will be a repository to keep all documents but only if colleges accept the details online. If it has to be downloaded, the purpose gets defeated as the documents will then have to be attested," Rita Chatterjee, principal, Apeejay schools, said.