Student ID card template, front and back, ready to cut.

Is there an official format?

No. We looked for a format or a list of required details from a board or a national body and didn't find one. The NCPCR's Manual on Safety and Security of Children in Schools, which brings together 22 sets of school safety guidelines, doesn't set one either. So the card's design and content are up to the school.

That leaves you free to decide, and it also means nobody else will tell you what's safe to print. A card is shown at the gate, clipped to a bag and sometimes lost on the way home. Plan it on the assumption that a stranger will read it one day.

What goes on the front

The front is for whoever checks the card: a guard, a teacher on bus duty, an exam invigilator.

• The school's name, logo, town and phone number, so anyone who finds the card knows where it belongs.
• A recent photo. Retake it every year or two for younger children, who change fastest.
• Name, class and section, and admission number. The admission number is what your office looks a student up by.
• Date of birth and blood group, if the parents have given you the blood group.
• A valid-till date, such as the end of the session (31/03/2027 on the sample card). Without one, last year's card for a student who has left still looks current.
• The principal's signature or a facsimile, which is what makes the card the school's and not a homemade one.

What goes on the back

• A parent's or guardian's name and phone number.
• A number to call in an emergency. The school office's number works well here, because the office can reach the family and knows the student.
• An address only if you need one, and then the locality or area rather than the house number and street.
• A line saying where to return the card if it's found.

What to leave off

• The Aadhaar number. The Supreme Court held in its 2018 Puttaswamy judgment that Aadhaar isn't compulsory for school admission. There's no reason to print it on a card that everyone at the gate can read.
• The full home address on the front. A name, a photo and a house address together tell a stranger exactly where a child lives. If the office needs the address, it's in the admission record.
• Anything the card doesn't need to do its job, such as category, religion or a parent's occupation. The admission form is the place for details the school has to record.

If you're starting the year's records, our admission form format collects the details the card draws on.

Printing and cutting

Each A4 sheet has four cards, with each front beside its back. Print at 100% or “Actual size”, not “Fit to page”, or the printer will shrink them. Measure the first card with a ruler before you print the rest: it should be 85.6 mm wide and 54 mm tall.

Print on thick card if you can. Cut out the front and the back, stick them together and laminate them, then punch a slot at the top for a lanyard or clip.

How to make the cards in Word

1. Add the school's details. Type the school's name, town and phone number in the first card's heading, and add your logo.
2. Fill in one student. Type the student's name, class, admission number, date of birth, blood group and the valid-till date, and paste the photo into the photo box.
3. Fill in the back. Add a parent's name and phone number, the locality if you want an address, and the emergency number.
4. Copy for the class. Copy the finished card to the other three on the sheet, and change the student details on each.
5. Print and cut. Print at 100% on thick card, cut each front and back out, stick them together and laminate.

Sources

We read each of these on 21 October 2026. Rules change, so check the latest circular before you rely on a detail.

1. Manual on Safety and Security of Children in Schools, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, 2021.
2. Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, W.P.(C) No. 494 of 2012, judgment (paragraph 332(c)), Supreme Court of India, 26 September 2018.