Sri Lanka to do away with race, religion and marital status of parents in birth certificates

Many children are reportedly facing issues due to details of the marriage of parents, especially when enrolling a child in school.

Colombo, July 22 (newsfirst/newswire): Sri Lanka’s Registrar General’s Department says all new Birth Certificates will be issued as “Sri Lankan” and will not refer to any race or religion, Newsfirst reported

Registrar General N. C. Vithanage further said details pertaining to Marriage and Ethnic Group will also be removed from the Application Form for the registration of a birth in Sri Lanka.

Many children in the country are reportedly facing issues due to the details of the marriage of parents, especially when enrolling a child in school.

Vithanage further said the much-awaited Digital Birth Certificate will be issued following the conclusion of the 2020 General Election.

Under the new system, a 12-digit serial number is to be issued for all new birth certificates and this serial number can be used to obtain a NIC when a child completes 15 years of age, he said.

Registrar General N. C. Vithanage said the digital birth certificate will come with a QR Code, a Bar Code, a dedicated watermark to meet international standards and to counter forged documents.

A system is already in place to launch the new birth certificates, he added.