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By KWANELE SIBIYA | 2023-03-10
Despite government’s effort to ensure that every child has access to formal education, through the provision of the Free Primary Education (FPE) programme, 408 children have not been accepted in schools due to the lack of birth certificates.
This was revealed by Umhluma Women and Youth Foundation Director Lungelo Zulu, who said they had it in authority based on their records that these children were idling at home.
Zulu said what was worrying was that a fair share of the parents to these children were also without birth certificates.
He said this was the reason they failed to register certificates for their children.
Zulu said the organisation had engaged with some of the head teachers, who stated that their hands were tied, as they were expected to submit a list of pupils to be enrolled under the FPE to the deputy prime minister’s office.
“The head teachers said they, unfortunately, cannot submit the claims for pupils who do not have birth certificates as per the requirements by government.
“We also tried to engage the department of social welfare and many other partners with futile attempts,” he said.
He then pleaded with the ministry of home affairs, which is responsible for such issues, to intervene urgently and salvage the future of these youngsters.
“The country should formulate certain systems that would accommodate such children even though this might be a costly exercise, given that there are some parents who also do not have these certificates,” he said
Communications Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mlandvo Dlamini, advised members of the Umhluma Women and Youth Foundation to reach out to the ministry so they could assist them in identifying the affected children.
He said this would allow the ministry to assess the situation and further come up with a strategy on how best to deal with it.
“The ministry has discovered that a majority of Emaswati were not capacitated on the mopping exercise, which is aimed at ensuring that everyone has access to birth certificates and other personal documents.
“As a result, we have rolled out programmes on social media platforms in a bid to reach out to the masses,” he stated.
He said these orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) could also visit the deputy prime minister’s office for assistance on this issue.
Dlamini then urged mothers to register birth certificates for their children within 60 days from birth to avoid a situation where they would be left stranded in the event they pass on.
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