Births sans certificates: Adivasi children face hurdles in access to education

Visakhapatnam: In Kothuru village, under Patuchennuru Panchayat of Saluru Mandal in Parvathipuram Manyam district, Shirisha's story underscores a pressing issue faced by many tribal children.

Born to Pusuru Lacchaya and Parvathi, Shirisha has been unable to attend school as she did not possess a birth certificate. She was born at her home, not in a hospital, and hence this problem.

This issue is widespread among children in the region, including the likes of Sangeeta and Joha. Politicians and people’s representatives rarely attempt to solve such issues.

Without birth certificates, the children cannot obtain Aadhaar cards, which are essential for school enrolment and accessing various governmental services.

This problem is widespread in the Alluri Sitarama Raju district, too, where 12,476 boys and girls across 22 mandals are awaiting their birth certificates, it was stated in a circular issued by former district collector, Sumit Kumar, on Sept 26, 2023.

The Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) living in remote areas face unique challenges. Rules designed for urban and plain regions exacerbate the problem, often resulting in children being denied birth certificates due to home births or failure to obtain the certificates within the required one-year period, even for hospital births.

Social activist PS Ajay Kumar has highlighted the exploitation by middlemen demanding notarization fees from these marginalised communities. "Many incidents come to our notice where middlemen are exploiting the tribals," he said.

Ajay Kumar proposes amendments to the guidelines on the issuance of birth certificates, suggesting exemptions for tribal families from state mandates. He emphasises the need for collaboration between the education and tribal welfare department to address this issue.

Ajay Kumar proposes protocols allowing PHC doctors to provide age determination certificates without requiring affidavits from tribal parents. He also recommends that adivasis should not be obligated to provide notarised affidavits in this context.

In response to Deccan Chronicle's inquiry, Information Technology and human resources minister Nara Lokesh stated, "Through real time governance, I aim to initiate a specialised effort to address this issue. Work is already under way to facilitate the acquisition of birth certificates via WhatsApp. We are adopting a Life Cycle approach to this challenge, focusing on a government-to-citizen strategy.”

In this initiative, arrangements are being made to engage employees from the Secretariat, the Tehsildar Office and the RDO Office.”