Latest update April 25th, 2026 12:35 AM
Oct 07, 2015 News

Over 3M birth, death and marriage records
that date back to almost 150 years are to
be finally computerized.
Approximately two million birth; one million marriage and 500,000 death registration records must be entered into a computer database in their entirety within a three-year time frame.
This means that some 4000 birth, death and marriage registration records (correct entries) must be entered daily, according to the Terms of Reference (TORs) for the consultancy firm which will undertake the computerisation of the records at the General Registrar Office (GRO).
An advertisement is currently out recruiting consultancy services for this project, a government statement said yesterday.
The objective of this project is to ensure that all the records for the period 1869 to 2015 are correctly entered into what is known as the Civil Events Registration System (CERS), to allow for the complete automation of the process for the generation of certificates, verification, easy retrieval and storage.
GRO is the government agency responsible for the registration of civil events (births, deaths, marriages and adoptions) and the issuance of the relevant documents to support this function. As part of its mandate for the continuous improvement in delivery of service to citizens, and to enhance efficiency and effectiveness, the GRO acquired the CERS.
An indispensable requirement for the CERS is the need to take data from the paper-based birth, death and marriage registration records (held by the GRO) and enter these into CERS database from the year 1869 to 2015.
According to the statement, it is envisaged that upon completion of this project, the process for distributing new birth, death and marriage certificates will be significantly reduced, and will allow for easy retrieval of information.
The consultant or firm will be required to ensure that for each record entered, there is 100% accuracy. Weekly status reports on proposed targets and achievements and monthly reports on data entries completed must be submitted.
Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, under whose remit the GRO falls, had said during the 2015 Budget debates in August, that part of a $183M allocation to his department will go towards restoring GRO records. An additional part of the GPOC building has been rented to help in this restoration project.
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.