Everyone with an iPhone or iPad has to put up with the mild annoyance of entering their password when downloading apps or content from iTunes. But for teachers and IT administrators at schools, the situation is far worse. Imagine having to generate and manage hundreds of unique Apple IDs for each and every iPad owned by a school. Or, in situations where an iPad is shared among several students, the login information would need to be shared as well. Trying to load new apps or content onto devices in either of these situations would be a major hassle.
That's why Apple is moving to modify the current Apple ID requirements for iPads used at schools. According to an email obtained by 9 to 5 Mac and MacRumors, Apple will allow administrators in education settings to download apps and content to iPads without assigning an Apple ID to each device. The schools will, however, retain an option to disable downloads from students.
In addition, students under 13 currently require parental permission to set up an Apple ID, even if it's a school iPad. In 2016, schools will be able to set up and manage IDs for younger students without going through the trouble of formally obtaining parental permission. According to Apple, these changes "will make it far easier to enroll, manage, and support a large deployment — and reduce many of the steps schools have to go through to get setup."