Quote of the Day
“Every single minute matters, every single child matters, every single childhood matters.” — Kailash Satyarthi
Kailash Satyarthi spoke these words during his Nobel Peace Prize lecture in Oslo on December 10, 2014. Having spent decades fighting child labour and exploitation, he knew what it meant for children to spend their early years waiting for someone to defend their rights.
There is something about the word every that makes this statement difficult to ignore.
Every child.
Not just the children whose parents can afford good schools.
Not just those growing up in peaceful communities.
Not just those fortunate enough to have adults who understand their rights and know how to defend them.
Every child.
Yet we often make children wait for things that should never have been denied to them.
A child waits for a place in school. Another waits for protection from abuse. Another grows up without the documents needed to prove something as basic as their identity.
Sometimes the problem is poverty. Sometimes it is a broken system. Sometimes it is simply that nobody has taken responsibility.
And while adults discuss what should be done, childhood continues.
Children do not get those years back.
This does not mean every problem can be solved immediately. But it does mean that delays have consequences, especially when the person waiting has little power to change the situation.
Perhaps we should ask ourselves a question.
When we tell a child to wait, what exactly are we asking them to lose?
Source: Kailash Satyarthi — Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, December 10, 2014
Did You Know?
A child can be born, grow up and attend school without having a legal identity.
Imagine a child who has attended school for years.
The teachers know her. Her classmates know her. Her parents know exactly when and where she was born.
Then examination time approaches.
Suddenly, there is a problem.
She does not have a birth certificate.
According to a December 2024 report by UNICEF, approximately 150 million children under five worldwide had never had their births registered. Another 55 million had been registered but did not possess birth certificates.
These are two different problems.
Birth registration officially records a child’s existence. A birth certificate provides documentary proof of that registration.
Without these records, children may face difficulties accessing services, proving their age or exercising certain legal rights.
The problem is particularly serious in Cameroon.
In November 2025, UNICEF reported that more than 1.4 million school-aged children in Cameroon lacked birth certificates.
For some, the consequences reach the classroom. Children may be unable to register for official examinations, even after years of attending school.
But there has been progress.
Through a programme involving Cameroon’s Ministry of Basic Education, UNICEF and other partners, 48,232 pupils obtained the necessary documentation in 2024 through special procedures involving mobile court hearings.
Think about what that means for a family.
A document that may appear ordinary to one parent could determine whether another parent’s child can sit an examination.
A birth certificate does not give a child their humanity.
The child already has that.
What it does is help ensure that institutions recognize the identity and rights the child has always possessed.
Sources: UNICEF — The Right Start in Life: Global Levels and Trends in Birth Registration (2024) · UNICEF Cameroon — Birth registration and education
For Discussion
Should a child be prevented from sitting an examination because their parents could not obtain a birth certificate?
And what could schools, local councils and communities do to ensure that children are not denied opportunities because of missing documents?
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