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Day care centre essential for any workplace


Bangladeshpost
Published : 10 Aug 2019 09:13 PM | Updated : 05 Sep 2020 07:38 AM

DS Sourav

Shafin and Sohel go to a day care center at 8am every morning. Their mother Shahina Alam drops them off on her way to her office. She works for a multinational company situated Gulshan. Like many other countries this has become a common scenario in Dhaka city, working parents prefer to leave their children at day care centers during the workday.

Leaving one’s children in a day care center was very uncommon only a few years back, but now the perspective is changing positively. More than 60-day care centers are currently providing their services in Dhaka. Many private organizations have also built day care centers for working women’s children. A number of organizations, including UNICEF (UN Children's Fund), have found that the number of working women in Bangladesh has been increasing but the number of day care centers have not increased accordingly.

There are six months of maternity leave in public and private institutions. After returning to work, the most difficult task for new mothers is breastfeeding. There is no day care centers in majority of the public and private institutions. Working women often face many problems in the workplace because of their newborn child. Many people quit their jobs because of this issue.

‘The main purpose of a day care center is to provide a healthy, happy environment where children may have the opportunity to explore and develop their own unique individuality while helping to better prepare them for a happier adjustment into kindergarten’, says Dr. Enamul Rahman, a private day care center director at Dhanmondi.

‘Daycare is a necessity for most parents because many families require two incomes to get by financially. While the inability to do it all is often stressful for many parents, they can rest assured daycare is a viable option’, he adds. He further said, ‘Private institutions need to increase the number of day care centers. But without proper supervision, it is not safe to allow the private sector to operate such centers.’

‘It offers long-lasting social, economic and academic benefits for kids and their parents,’ says Mahmudur Rahman, Clinical Psychology professor at the University of Dhaka. ‘The services provided to children from day care centers include keeping children clean, primary health care, balanced meals for children, pre-school education, indoor sports and recreation facilities’, he adds.

In these centers, children are given motherly affection. They are also introduced to history and Bangladeshi culture. Children get the opportunity to develop talents by participating in dance, song, poetry recitals these days. Special training is given to all the officers and employees of the day care centers in order to provide appropriate services to the children and assist them in their development. This allows children to spend time in a favorable environment, and working mothers can freely keep their children in a safe place at a low cost.

Parents meetings are organized every month to ensure the day-to-day care center is well managed. In these meetings, mothers get the chance to interact with the center's officers and staff about their children’s progress.