Aadhaar Cards for Students to Be Made in Schools
The Madhya Pradesh government has launched a special campaign starting August 18, 2025, to facilitate Aadhaar card enrollment and updates for school children directly at their schools. The School Education Department, in coordination with UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), will conduct this drive across government schools.
This initiative, titled "Aadhaar for Students, Now at School Doorsteps", primarily focuses on mandatory biometric updates (MBUs) for children. These updates include fingerprint scans, iris scans, and photographs.
The first biometric update is required when a child turns 5 years old. It is free if completed between the ages of 5 and 7. After 7 years, charges apply. The second update is mandatory at the age of 15, and it's free if done between 15 and 17. After 17, a fee is applicable.
The updated Aadhaar card is essential for services like school admission, entrance exams, scholarships, and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes. The government aims to ensure 100% Aadhaar registration to facilitate the generation of students' APAR IDs.
APAR ID serves as a student's permanent digital academic identity, storing all credentials like scorecards, marksheets, gradesheets, degrees, diplomas, certificates, and co-curricular achievements. Importantly, for APAR ID creation, the student’s name in the UDISE+ portal must exactly match the name on the Aadhaar card.
Director of the State Education Center, Mr. Harjinder Singh, stated that Aadhaar camps under this campaign will help students complete MBUs and also offer assistance for name corrections, mobile number updates, and APAR ID-related services.
The first phase of the campaign started in 40 districts of Madhya Pradesh on August 18 and will run for 1–2 months. UIDAI has identified PIN codes with the highest number of pending biometric updates to optimize the effectiveness of Aadhaar camps. Government schools falling under these PIN codes were prioritized. The second phase covering the remaining 15 districts will begin in the first week of September 2025.
District administrations have been instructed to promote the campaign locally. Increased awareness among parents is expected to ensure the success of the “Aadhaar for Students, Now at School Doorsteps” campaign and maximize student participation.