KUALA LUMPUR: The government has given all government agencies and departments until next year to set up daycare centres in their respective offices.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said, priority is given to government departments and agencies which have staff working in shifts.
The ministry, she said, will also be working with the Education Ministry to ensure that daycare centres can be set up in schools to help teachers.
"For the government sector, a monthly subsidy of RM180 a month per child for daycare services is already in place for civil servants whose houseghold income is no more than RM5,000.
"For the public sector, a tax-exemption initiative for this purpose can be redeemed by employers based on a February 15, 1996 circular from the Inland Revenue Board, which provides tax exemption for renovation and maintenance of buildings to create daycare centres," said Dr Wan Azizah, who is also Deputy Prime Minister.
Dr Wan Azizah was responding to a question from Siri Zailah Mohd Yusoff (PAS Rantau Panjang) on the government's plans to monitor childcare centres, especially home-based ones, to ensure that child abuse cases do not recur.
She said the ministry had also organised a workshop on the Childcare Centres Act Amendment (Act 308) on July 11 to improve the monitoring of such centres nationwide.
She said the Welfare Department has also gathered information on home-based daycare centres which care for less than four children, under four-years-old. This, she said, is to improve the standards and safety levels of such centres.
The Welfare Department, she said, is also providing guidance to daycare operators and feeding them with information on PERMATA daycare courses, as well as seminars and briefings on childcare and early childhood education via 42 training agencies approved by the Welfare Department.
"This is geared towards improving the skill level and knowledge of daycare operators in the field.
"There are also various programmes held to improve public awareness and educate parents on the importance of sending their children to daycare centres which are recognised by the Welfare Department. This can be seen in the Jom Daftar programme, as well as opening various information counters by numerous government agencies and departmements," she said.
Dr Wan Azizah said, in order to ensure that the issue is tackled comprehensively, a special committee will be formed to draft competency standards which can be used by daycare centres which cover all aspects such as safety, training and basic skills.
The committee, she said, will also supervise the mandatory registration of the daycare centres with the Welfare Department.
She said the committee will work closely with legislative bodies to facilitate a smooth process in the event of court proceedings which involve misconduct by daycare centre operators.