Tamil Nadu schools gear up for biometric drive: 15 lakh students urged to update Aadhaar by December deadline

The campaign draws from a July 2025 central government order mandating Aadhaar-linked authentication for more than 143 schemes disbursing ₹790 crore annually, from pre-matric grants to postgraduate support.

Tamil Nadu School Education Department has launched a statewide campaign to update Aadhaar biometrics for nearly 15 lakh school students. Education department is emphasizing that the process must be completed by December 31 to avoid disruptions in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scholarships.

The Aadhaar updation programme has been stated in partnership with India Post under a fresh Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to fix verification hurdles due to outdated biometrics. These delays have blocked timely aid for school essentials such as uniforms, textbooks and tuition fees under key schemes including the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMS).

The Mandatory Biometric Update (MBU) is a critical step to safeguard DBT flows across welfare programmes and eliminate any scope for misuse. We’re working to make it hassle-free for every family.

To streamline the effort, India Post will organise enrolment camps at schools throughout the state, providing complimentary services for core biometric captures like iris scans and fingerprints. The camps got underway in September in districts including Coimbatore, with officials targeting full coverage ahead of the festive rush.

For additional requests, such as corrections to names or addresses, nominal charges of ₹49 to ₹99 will apply, pending clearance from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) to resume its no-fee model for government school pupils.

“ELCOT is awaiting UIDAI approval, after which we’ll roll out free add-on services exclusively for state-run schools,” a Coimbatore district education officer said.

Uptake has been gradual so far, in Coimbatore alone, just 1,348 out of a 31,000-student quota have been processed since the drive began. School heads have been directed to prominently display camp timetables and liaise with nearby post offices to ramp up participation.

The campaign draws from a July 2025 central government order mandating Aadhaar-linked authentication for more than 143 schemes disbursing ₹790 crore annually, from pre-matric grants to postgraduate support.

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