Pupils register for school with health passports

Source: The Namibian, 09/06/2017

EDUCATION permanent secretary Sanet Steenkamp yesterday said some
schools were registering children who only had baptism certificates or
health passports to ensure that they are not left out.


It is government policy that children must have a birth certificate to
register for school, but in certain circumstances exceptions have been
made.

The Namibian found out during a visit to Ovitoto recently that some
children do not have birth certificates, and some schools accepted
them on the basis of health passports or baptism certificates.

Some parents from the Okandjira settlement complained that their
children were deprived of various services due to a lack of national
documents.

They said the biggest hurdle they experienced when applying for birth
certificates for their children was providing information about the
absent fathers of the children.

Undja Kaandjo (38) a resident of Okandjira said she has six children
one of whom was registered for school using a health passport.

She said getting a birth certificate for her child has been difficult
because his father is in prison.

Kaandjo added that the lack of documents has also made it difficult
for her other children to get government social grants.

Another villager, Beverly Tjombe (25) who is the mother of three
children said she encountered a similar problem as two of her children
are orphans while the third was fathered by an Angolan who left the
country.

I once thought of getting my father to sign the documents in the place
of the childs father so he could get a grant because things are so
difficult for us she lamented.

Omatako councillor Israel Hukurua said he knows of children who have
been trying to get social grants from the gender ministry but did not
have the correct documents.

Some parents do not even have ID cards themselves which makes things
even more difficult. These problems have been raised with the relevant
authorities he stressed.

Otjozondjupa education director Simon Tsuseb said he is not aware of
instances where children have been registered with baptism
certificates or health passports.

Parents must have birth certificates to register their children and
that is the official policy he said adding that in other cases there
could be exceptions.

Steenkamp said schools were accepting other documents to avoid having
children unnecessarily deprived of education.

We can register with a baptism certificate or a letter from the
headman so that the child is not deprived of education she explained.

Steenkamp said parents should ensure their children have documents by
the time they reach high school.

Only children who are older than nine years would require special
permission from the permanent secretary to attend school she said.

Home affairs spokesperson Sakeus Kadhikwa said the parents can get
their children national documents even without the details of the fathers.

We do not send people back just because of that and those fathers in
prison can write declarations that they are the fathers he stated.

Kadhikwa said the ministry s outreach programme through mobile teams
has been greatly affected by budgetary constraints but they do have
teams in the regions to disseminate information to educate people.

Earlier this year home affairs launched the e-birth notification
system which is a collaboration between the health and home affairs
ministries allowing new births to be registered sooner.