New Delhi, February 8 The UIDAI, the custodian of Aadhaar, has completed mandatory biometric updates (MBU) for one crore school children across 83,000 schools nationwide, according to an official statement.
A child under the age of five can enroll for Aadhaar by providing a photograph, name, date of birth, gender, address, and birth certificate. However, the fingerprints and iris biometrics of a child are not captured for Aadhaar enrollment for children below the age of five, as these indicators are not fully developed at that age.
Therefore, providing fingerprints and iris information in Aadhaar, after the age of 5 and 15, is a crucial requirement for children.
The lack of MBU in Aadhaar can lead to difficulties in authentication for receiving benefits under various government schemes, and in registering for competitive and university examinations such as NEET, JEE, CUET, etc.
"The UIDAI has successfully completed over one crore Mandatory Biometric Updates (MBUs) for school children in 83,000 schools across the country," the statement said.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has made MBU free for children in the age group of 7 to 15 years from October 1 for a one-year period.
"UIDAI initiated this special MBU drive for school children in September 2025 after a successful technological integration with the Unified District Information System for Education Plus application, which enabled the visibility of MBU status for children in schools. This breakthrough helped UIDAI and schools jointly identify children who were due for an MBU, and hold camps at schools to complete the MBU," the statement said.
UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar has written to the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories about the initiative by the authority and requested their support in conducting focused MBU camps at schools.
"This mission-mode campaign will continue until all schools in the country are covered. This initiative has already benefited 1 crore children in 83,000 schools, and many more are expected to benefit," the statement said.
In addition to camps held at schools, children can also complete their MBU at any of the Aadhaar enrollment centers and Aadhaar Seva Kendras running across the country.
"Approximately 1.3 crore MBU transactions have also been completed during this period, by children visiting these centers," the statement said.