BHERIGANGA, SEPTEMBER 16

As many as 26,000 children have not been registered at birth in Karnali Province.

According to the National Census, 2021, there were 204,638 children below five in the province. As per the census, 25,990 children were yet to be registered.

Among 87.3 per cent registered births, the number of girl children remains higher by 0.7 per cent, according to the census. Lack of awareness is said to be the top cause behind non-registration, the stakeholders said.

Child rights activist Nawaraj BC explained that parents lacked awareness that they should register the births of their children on time. The birth registration of children whose fathers could not be identified can be done but the documentation is not done for such children, described BC. The government has a policy that says no child should be deprived of birth record but lax implementation is leaving many children's birth undocumented, he lamented. The father and mother of the child have to mandatorily register the birth their children along with a name. The birth registration is required for a child to get a birth certificate

The provincial Ministry of Social Development has launched an awareness drive after finding why children missed their birth registration, said Anita Gyawali, Head of Women, Children and Senior Citizen Division.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 17, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.