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UIDAI Completes Over 2 Crore Aadhaar Biometric Updates For School Children

UIDAI Completes Over 2 Crore Aadhaar Biometric Updates For School Children

Yellarthi Chennabasava
August 19, 2026

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has completed over 2 crore Mandatory Biometric Updates (MBU) for school children across the country, as part of a special drive aimed at ensuring Aadhaar records remain updated as children grow.

According to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the initiative was enabled through UIDAI's technological integration with the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), which provides schools visibility into the MBU status of children.

The special drive, launched in September 2025, has so far covered more than 1.56 lakh schools. Dedicated school-level camps and coordinated outreach by UIDAI and state and Union Territory education departments have enabled children to complete their biometric updates conveniently at their schools.

Aadhaar enrolment for children below five years captures demographic details and photographs, while fingerprints and iris scans are not recorded as these biometrics are still developing. MBU ensures that children's Aadhaar records are updated with their biometric information.

MBU is required when a child reaches five years of age and again at 15 years. Timely completion helps ensure smoother Aadhaar authentication as children move through school and higher education and access services and government benefits requiring authentication.

To encourage timely updates, UIDAI waived MBU charges for children aged 7 to 15 years from October 1, 2025, for one year. MBU remains free for children aged 5–7 and 15–17. Consequently, biometric updates are currently free for children aged 5 to 17 years until September 30, 2026.

UIDAI has cautioned that failure to complete MBU could cause difficulties with Aadhaar authentication for government benefits and registration for competitive and university entrance examinations such as NEET, JEE and CUET. The authority has urged parents and guardians to complete the updates within the prescribed timelines.