The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has issued fresh guidelines for completing the Mandatory Biometric Updates (MBUs) in Aadhaar for children in the age group of 5-15 years.
UIDAI chief Bhuvnesh Kumar has written a letter to states and union territories (UTs) to complete the pending MBUs by organising camps in schools, the Ministry of Electronics & IT said in a statement on August 27.
In this regard, the UIDAI has joined hands with the Department of School Education and Literacy to provide the MBU status pertaining to Aadhaar of school children on the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) application – a move that will facilitate MBU in Aadhaar for crores of students, the statement said.
Timely completion of MBU in Aadhaar is an essential requirement for children at the age of five and once again at fifteen years of age and it is crucial for maintaining the accuracy and reliability of biometric data of children in Aadhaar.
There are approximately 17 crore Aadhaar numbers where the mandatory biometrics update is pending.
Why updating biometrics in Aadhaar is important for a child
If biometrics are not updated in Aadhaar, it may lead to difficulties while carrying out authentication for receiving benefits under various government schemes, registering in competitive and university examinations like NEET, JEE, CUET etc.
“It is noted that many times students and parents rush for Aadhaar updates at the last moment leading to anxieties. This can be avoided with timely biometric updates,” the release said.
UIDAI CEO writes to states and UTs to complete pending MBUs
The UIDAI CEO in his letter to the Chief Secretaries of states and union territories apprised them of the initiative and requesting them to support in conducting targeted MBU camps.
“It was thought that a camp approach through the schools could help in completing the pending MBUs. The main question was how the schools would know which students have not done the biometric updates. The technology teams of UIDAI and Department of School Education and Literacy, Govt of India have worked together to successfully implement a solution through the UDISE+ application. Now all the schools can have the visibility of the pending MBUs,” the letter said.
The Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) is an educational management information system under the Department of School Education & Literacy and captures various statistics related to school education.
This joint initiative from UIDAI and Department of School Education is expected to go a long way towards providing ease of updating biometrics of children, according to the ministry.