KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 1,685 child care centres, including 938 nurseries, nationwide have been identified to be operating illegally since 2014, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said today.
She said these premises were operating as child care centres without registration certificate.
“One of the reason for this is problems for the operators to comply with the standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the ministry, especially on security features,” she told reporters after launching a new logo for the Malaysian Social Institute (ISM) and opening of the ISM nursery at the ISM Auditorium here today.
The ministry, she said, would not compromise on security and safety of child care centres to avoid any untoward incident.
She said the child care centres, as well as nurseries, should also have the necessary facilities to accommodate the children of various ages and also meet the various criteria set by the ministry to be issued with the certificate.
It is because of the unwillingness of the operators concerned to meet the criteria set by the ministry that many child care centres are operating at the expense of the children’s safety and comfort, she added.
She said measures would be carried out by the ministry to address the problem.
Rohani said that currently, only 4,240 nurseries and 1,650 child care centres were registered, with another 750 in the process of registration.
On ISM, she said 873 people had benefitted from the training programme conducted by the institute this year. -- Bernama