UNB, Dhaka :
About 63 percent of the slum children have no birth registration although the Births and Deaths Registration Act 2004 made birth registration compulsory.
Among the parents or caregivers of the children who did not obtain registrations, 41 percent did not understand why it is important to have the birth registration for their children. Besides, 32 percent did not know where to get the birth registration and 27 percent of people did not receive it due to cost.
This was revealed in the findings of two studies – ‘Ubanisation trends and implications for children’ and ‘Situational analysis of selected slums of Dhaka city’-which Save the Children Bangladesh commissioned to examine the impact of urbanisation on slum families, particularly children.
The studies were carried out by the Centre for Urban Studies (CUS) and the Nielsen.
The findings of the studies were formally disseminated at a function held at Spectra Convention Centre of Gulshan in the city on Thursday.
Moderated by Mostafa Kaiyum Khan, national policy adviser of Bangladesh Urban Forum, the function was addressed by Michael McGrath, Save the Children’s Bangladesh Country Director, its deputy country director Kazi Giusuddin
and education director Elijabeth Paarce.
AKM Fazlur Rahman, manager of the Nielsen, presented the findings of the survey on ‘Ubanization trends and implications for children’ while Dr Shahana Naznin, director for children programme of Save the Children, that of ‘Situational analysis of selected slums of Dhaka city’.
According to the surveys, nearly 80 percent of young girls in the slums are married before they are 18 and around one-fifth of all families living in slums have working children.
