(This article was first published in the New Vision on January 26, 2023)
By Kellen Owente
Have you been struggling to get a national identification number (NIN) for your child? Worry no more!
The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) will be registering learners for NINs at the first New Vision Education Expo this weekend.
By attending this expo, which will run on January 27-29 at the Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology in Nakawa, Kampala, your child will be able to get registered for a NIN before the beginning of the first school term this year. This is especially important for learners as the education ministry now requires all school children to have NINs.
Rosemary Kisembo, the NIRA executive director, announced the authority’s participation in the expo at Vision Group’s head offices in Kampala on Tuesday.
She said the expo, which is organised as a one-stop shop for everything education, is an opportunity for learners to register to get NINs. Only Ugandans aged sixteen and above can be issued national identification cards, which include NINs. But all Ugandans, including children below sixteen, are required to have NINs.
The three-day expo is planned to link training and industry needs so that institutions can provide the quality of labour.
Kisembo said NIRA decided to take advantage of the expo to register learners for NINs because this fair will bring together all actors in the education sector.
She added that all Ugandan children are entitled to a NIN right from birth.
Just like parents give us names when we are born, Uganda gives us NINs. Your ID number may change but your NIN does not change. “We urge you to leave your contact details with the team at our stall at the expo so we can call you to get your NIN when it is ready,” Kisembo said.
She added that NIRA will also help one correct the information on a national identification card as well as replace a lost card.
“If you need a replacement, come with a letter from the Police telling us you actually lost your ID,” the NIRA executive director said.
If you want to correct an error on your name or date of birth, you need a document showing your correct name and this could be a baptism card, national examination certificate or hospital discharge note issued on the day you were born,” she explained.
NIRA said all its offices countrywide will remain open to offer the same services during the expo.
Vision Group editor-in-chief, Barbara Kaija welcomed NIRA’s decision to take part in what is planned to be the biggest education expo in the country.
“We shall have different entities offering various products and services such as vocational education, kindergarten, primary, secondary, universities and local and international study-abroad agencies,” she said.
“We encourage parents to come and shop for their children preparing to return to school at the expo,” she added.
The expo will also include training sessions on parenting, ICT, lower secondary school curriculum, career guidance and counselling, opportunities in vocational and university education and early childhood development education.
