By Tendai Makaripe
At 35, Sibusisiwe Dube has never sat in a classroom.
Born without a birth certificate, she grew up invisible to the state.
Now, in Bulawayo’s Ward 17, the cycle is repeating: none of her five children has papers, and their first years of learning are slipping away.
Hundreds of kilometres away in Penhalonga, Betty tells a similar story. When she tried to register her children in 2017, officials asked for her late parents’ death certificates and a letter from the local headman. She was turned away.
Her son, Tinashe, quit school at 17 and now works in dangerous informal mines. “He should be in class,” she said. “Because I don’t have documents, my children don’t either.”
Their cases are a reflection of a national problem that hits hardest in the early years.
Families without birth certificates often face delays, deferrals or conditional placement at ECD A and B — the two years that prepare 3- to 6-year-olds for Grade 1 — even though current regulations say schools must not refuse admission solely because a child lacks a birth certificate.
In practice, however, some centres still insist on the document at enrolment or ask parents to return “when papers are ready,” and children lose months of early learning as well as the clinic referrals and targeted support that usually move with ECD enrolment.
Health and education workers say the cost of those delays is immediate. “Some children who miss or start ECD late arrive in Grade 1 without school-readiness skills, struggle with language and pre-literacy, and are more likely to disengage later,” said Harare-based ECD teacher Maryln Muzavazi.
“The issue is not that Grade 1 drops documentation requirements; it is that by the time families secure papers, the window for uninterrupted early learning has already narrowed, leaving children to start formal schooling on the back foot.”
The Amnesty International report We Are Like Stray Animals highlights how these children, without birth certificates, are unable to access healthcare, education or even legal recognition.
Legal guarantees exist on paper. Section 81 of the Constitution affirms every child’s right to a name and a birth certificate.
A court ruling in recent years clarified that an unmarried father may register a birth when the mother is unavailable, a change meant to unblock cases in single-parent households.
Human rights lawyer and senior consultant at Utafiri Afrika Consulting Dr. Tarisai Mutangi noted that the birth registration process is “designed in such a way that the poorest, especially those in rural communities, are left behind.”
“This has led to systemic discrimination, as parents without proper documentation are unable to secure birth certificates for their children.”
Amnesty International Zimbabwe’s Executive Director, Lucia Masuka, emphasised the need for reforms.
“The decentralisation of registration services will contribute significantly to early registration of children,” she said.
“Currently, many parents face substantial travel costs and long queues to access registration, which can be prohibitive.”
Masuka also addressed the inflexible requirements in Zimbabwe’s registration process, which make it particularly difficult for children of stateless or undocumented parents to secure documents.
“Our law should provide flexibility or waivers in cases where a child’s parents lack necessary documentation. This could include letters from traditional leaders or community authorities who can attest to the child’s identity.”
She underscored the importance of training registration officers to interact sensitively with citizens.
“Some people avoid registration offices due to the humiliating treatment they face, particularly single mothers and undocumented individuals,” she said.
The human cost is visible.
In Gwanda, Flexen Siziba’s late wife had no documents. None of his 11 children has a birth certificate.
“They may never get to high school or formal jobs,” he said.
In Bulilima, a house fire destroyed Lulumani Maphosa’s birth records. Without acceptable proof, she missed her final exams despite strong grades.
Teachers describe a loop they struggle to break.
“We try to place undocumented children in ECD and encourage parents to meet mobile registration teams when they visit schools, but these teams are not always available.
Sometimes, families arrive after outreach has moved on,” said another ECD teacher, Takudzwa Mubonderi.
Nurses report similar patterns at clinics: infants receive the first vaccines recorded under a temporary name, but completing schedules and referrals becomes harder when names and dates shift at late registration.
Social worker Lisa William said: “A lack of a birth certificate complicates case management if teachers suspect abuse or neglect, because identity and guardianship are harder to verify.”
The government has expanded mobile civil registration teams to rural and peri-urban areas since 2023, often setting up at schools and clinics. Officials say the blitzes have cleared backlogs and registered large numbers, including ECD-age children.
Civil society groups acknowledge the gains but point to persistent gaps: households that miss a single outreach day may wait months for the next; guardians caring for orphaned or separated children struggle to gather the paperwork that some offices still demand; and migrant-descendant families continue to face questions about origins even when they have lived in Zimbabwe for decades.
Parliament has flagged the risk that these bureaucratic barriers feed a larger crisis of legal identity.
Fathers Against Abuse team leader and social analyst Alois Nyamazana said: “Documentation rules can unintentionally penalise poverty and displacement, turning a lost card, a fire, or the absence of one parent into a permanent barrier to school and services.”
ECD policy already recognises the importance of the first years, emphasising play-based learning, mother-tongue instruction and early stimulation.
“The Early Learning Policy says the Infant School Module delivers a play-based programme in ECD and Grades 1–2,” the 2023 Zimbabwe Early Learning Policy notes.
Experts say the admissions stance should match that spirit: admit the child now, then help the family complete documentation.
“That means aligning school practices with constitutional guarantees, standardising what offices ask for in late registration, and expanding school-based outreach so parents can meet the Civil Registry on the same grounds where their children learn,” said Harare lawyer Fungai Chiwashira.
Frontline workers say simple fixes would go far. Head teachers recommend setting predictable outreach calendars and giving parents written lists of acceptable alternative proofs — immunisation cards, baptism records, clinic letters — so families know what to bring.
Nurses want clear referral channels so a child who starts vaccines without a certificate can complete the schedule seamlessly once documents arrive. Social workers ask for a single, publicised checklist for guardians to reduce office-to-office contradictions that wear families down.
Back in Bulawayo, Dube counts the months as her youngest reaches ECD age without papers.
In Penhalonga, Betty watches Tinashe leave before dawn for the shafts. Each case shows how a missing document can steal a childhood twice — first from mothers and fathers who were turned away, then from their children in the very years when play, language and care matter most.
For families still trying, help exists.
Ask your local school or clinic when the next mobile registration visit is scheduled and what alternative documents the office accepts. If the mother is unavailable, fathers or legal guardians should carry national IDs and any records they have to start the process.
Where an office refuses to place a child while papers are pending, parents can ask for written reasons and seek assistance from legal-aid and child-rights groups that work on civil registration.
A birth certificate should not be a gatekeeper to early learning. It should be the first safeguard that allows every child to belong.
