Panaji: Biometric authentication of 98% or 1.58 lakh school students in Goa has been carried out by their schools, as per Centre’s school education department’s data. From nursery level up to Class VIII, there are 1.61 lakh students enrolled in the state and the Centre has directed Goa govt officials to complete authentication of data of the remaining students as well.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 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.Central 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.It is also because 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.Also, after introduction of National Education Policy, APAAR ID, a unique 12 digit ID, was introduced for school students. It is allotted to each student as a step in the creation of an academic bank of credits for school students, which will store their academic progress.The APAAR ID is be created using a child’s Aadhar number, leading to the opening of a Digilocker account for the student for the storage of the documents digitally.
