In Goa, biometric coverage among students hits 95%

Panaji: At 95% Goa has logged one of the best coverages of students’ Aadhaar and biometric details in the country. Of a total student enrolment of 3,00,546, the state has successfully uploaded Aadhaar and biometric details of 2,87,629 students on central govt’s Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) portal.Andhra Pradesh tops coverage in these fields, with a score of 99.6%.Centre has made it essential for states to complete the mandatory biometric update (MBU) in Aadhaar when the student turns five, and once again at 15 years of age.The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the Union department of school education and literacy have come together to provide MBU status pertaining to the Aadhaar of school children on the central school data portal.

Officials said it is important to update the Aadhaar details and biometrics online as, in the future, these will be made mandatory to avail of various govt schemes and also to answer centralised exams like NEET and JEE.They also said 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.CEO of UIDAI, Bhuvnesh Kumar, has also written to all the chief secretaries of states and UTs, requesting them to support conducting targeted MBU camps.

He said a new update in the portal helps detect students whose details are not uploaded.“The technology teams of UIDAI and the department of school education and literacy have worked together to successfully implement a solution through the UDISE+ application. Now all the schools can have the visibility of the pending MBUs,” Kumar said in his letter.