According to an official statement issued on Tuesday, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has completed mandatory biometric updates (MBU) for students in over one lakh schools within six months of launching the nationwide campaign, benefiting nearly 1.2 crore schoolchildren.
The mission-mode MBU initiative, which began in September 2025, will continue for six months. UIDAI has made the biometric update in Aadhaar free of cost for children aged 7 to 15 years for one year, starting October 1, 2025. Apart from special camps organised in schools, students can also complete their updates at any Aadhaar enrolment centre or Aadhaar Seva Kendra across the country.
Describing the effort as a significant milestone, UIDAI said it has covered more than 1,03,000 schools nationwide, enabling millions of students to complete their mandatory biometric updates conveniently on their school premises.
Also read: SC issues nationwide directions to expand open prisons
Updating children’s biometrics in Aadhaar is crucial for seamless authentication while accessing benefits under various government welfare schemes and scholarships, wherever applicable. It is also important for registration in competitive and university entrance examinations such as NEET, JEE, and CUET.
So far, about 1.2 crore students have completed their MBU through camps organised at their schools. The large-scale drive was rolled out after successful technological integration with the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) platform.
The integration with UDISE+, managed by the Union Department of School Education and Literacy, provides visibility into the biometric update status of students. This has helped authorities identify children due for updates and organise targeted camps within schools to facilitate the process. Around 4,000 biometric machines are currently being used to carry out the exercise and UIDAI is working to increase this number further to speed up the campaign.
Children below five years of age can enrol for Aadhaar by submitting details such as photograph, name, date of birth, gender address, and birth certificate. However, their fingerprints and iris scans are not captured at that stage because these biometric features are not fully developed.
As a result, submitting fingerprints and iris data through the mandatory biometric update process after crossing the ages of five and 15 years remains essential for maintaining the validity and functionality of their Aadhaar card.
Follow us
