The Australian government plans to assign every school child an individual identity number.
The numbers would allow children's academic progress to be tracked and attached to the My School website.
Federal opposition leader Tony Abbot says the scheme raises privacy concerns and names, not numbers, should be used to identify children.
But Education Minister Julia Gillard defended the plan, saying using numbers will help to protect privacy:
The Australian Education Union says it has not been consulted about the plan. It says it is not opposed to the idea, but wants more details.
The government says it will release the draft of a new national school curriculum next week.
The curriculums for maths, science, English and history will be made available online for public consultation.
Ms Gillard says the draft will be refined over the next few months.
