The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has crossed a major milestone by completing more than one crore Mandatory Biometric Updates (MBUs) for schoolchildren across 83,000 schools nationwide as part of its ongoing mission-mode drive. The special initiative, launched in September 2025, followed UIDAI’s successful technological integration with the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) platform, enabling real‑time visibility of MBU status at the school level. This integration allowed UIDAI and schools to jointly identify children due for biometric updates and organise school-based camps to complete the process efficiently.
UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar had earlier written to Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories, seeking their support in conducting focused MBU camps in schools. Over the past five months, UIDAI’s eight Regional Offices have coordinated extensively with state education departments, district administrations, UIDAI registrars and school authorities to execute the massive exercise. The campaign will continue until all schools are covered. According to UIDAI, the initiative has already benefited one crore children and many more are expected to be reached in the coming months.
Children below the age of five enrol for Aadhaar using only demographic details and a photograph, as their fingerprints and iris scans are not captured at that age. Therefore, biometric updates at the ages of five and fifteen are mandatory to ensure seamless authentication later in life. Failure to complete the MBU may lead to difficulties in accessing government welfare schemes or registering for major examinations like NEET, JEE and CUET.
To encourage timely updates, UIDAI waived MBU charges for children aged 7 to 15 for one year starting 1 October 2025, while updates for those aged 5–7 and 15–17 continue to remain free. Besides school camps, children can complete their MBUs at any Aadhaar enrolment centre or Aadhaar Seva Kendra across the country. Around 1.3 crore MBUs have been completed at these centres during the same period.
