The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has achieved a milestone by completing over one crore Mandatory Biometric Updates (MBUs) for schoolchildren across the country, Ministry of Electronics & IT said on Sunday. The updates were carried out in more than 83,000 schools within a span of just five months under a mission-mode drive.
The initiative, launched in September 2025, was undertaken in coordination with state education departments and district administrations. It followed UIDAI’s successful technological integration with the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), which enabled schools to track the biometric update status of enrolled students and identify those due for MBUs.
To ensure nationwide implementation, UIDAI Chief Executive Officer Bhuvnesh Kumar wrote to the Chief Secretaries of all states and Union Territories, seeking their support in organising focused biometric update camps in schools. UIDAI’s eight regional offices coordinated closely with education departments, registrars and school authorities to execute the large-scale exercise.
Under the Aadhaar framework, children below the age of five are enrolled using demographic details and photographs, as fingerprints and iris biometrics are not captured at that stage. Mandatory biometric updates are required when children cross the ages of five and 15, as biometric features mature. Failure to complete MBUs can lead to authentication issues while availing government welfare schemes or registering for competitive and university-level examinations such as NEET, JEE and CUET.
To encourage participation, UIDAI waived MBU charges for children in the 7-15 age group from October 1, 2025, for a one-year period. Biometric updates for children aged 5-7 and 15-17 years continue to remain free of cost.
Apart from school-based camps, children can also complete their biometric updates at Aadhaar enrolment centres and Aadhaar Seva Kendras across the country. During the same period, around 1.3 crore MBU transactions were completed at these centres.
