AT least 335,500 children of between five and 18 years old have been registered in 17 districts of Mainland Tanzania, as the Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) launched a registration exercise in Mwanza Region.
RITA Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Emmy Hudson said at the weekend that the ongoing registration exercise sought to see all schooling and non-schooling children under 18 years old were issued with birth certificates.
She was speaking during a one-day training workshop that took place at Sengerema Secondary School to impart skills to Sengerema ward education officers so that they might facilitate the implementation of the sixweek exercise in the district.
Doubling as registration officers, they will be required to transfer the acquired skills to teachers and assigned personnel who will be responsible for the registration of over 138,400 children in Sengerema District who eventually will be issued with birth certificates.
“We have already launched the registration exercise of children between 5 and 18 years of age and so far over 335,500 have been registered in 17 districts with Sengerema being the first to carry out to do so in Mwanza Region,” she said.
She mentioned the regions whose districts had embarked on the exercise as Dar es Salaam, Mara, Simiyu, Singida, Njombe, Ruvuma, Shinyanga and now Mwanza, calling all responsible officers to act responsibly and professionally.
Sengerema District Commissioner (DC), Emmanuel Kipole lauded RITA for kicking off an exercise in his district, saying it would ease costs incurred by parents as they went for certificates in his office.
Giving an example, the DC said some parents used to spend over 28,000/-as transport costs as they travelled from remotest areas in Buchosa District Council or paid over 56,000/-when accompanied by their children.
“It is good that RITA has brought this service closer to the people who have been overburdened by a number of costs for following up birth certificates to my office, and this initiative has indeed been helpful,” he said.
Mr Kipole challenged the parents to cooperate by paying required registration fees to facilitate the issuance of the important document on time.
The DC tasked education officers and school committees to be as supportive as possible in making sure all eligible children were registered as per the deadline.
RITA Acting Registration Manager, Patricia Mpuya insisted professionalism among registration officers involved in the exercise, including seeing to it that forms were attached with relevant documents.
