It is deplorable that children in our slums, some of the most vulnerable in our country, are unable to get their birth registration — a most basic national right.
It costs Tk300-400 for birth registration. But due to the financial decrepitude of those residing in slums, this is a huge amount, for which many of them would have to go without food for several days.
The situation persists despite the fact that the government had issued an order last year requiring authorities charge no fee for registering the births of slum-dwelling children. They are still having to pay.
The effects of this are manifold.
An education, which is a child’s most basic inherent right, goes amiss. This is because schools require a birth registration number for enrolment. As a result, many children are forced to drop out of school and instead become labourers, further deteriorating the country’s child labour situation.
Some children even work just to save up enough money so that they can have their births registered.
Furthermore, this is problematic when it comes to marriages, since a birth registration number is also required to make the marriage official.
It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that those most in need of its help get the aid they deserve. Aspirations of middle-income status are vacuous if a nation is unable to look after its most powerless citizens.
The government needs to implement a more pro-active approach so that no more children and no more individuals are forced into an undesirable future trying to obtain this most basic national right.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
