KOTA KINABALU: Guidelines on daycare centres will be tightened to ensure incidents of abuse against children do not occur, says state Community Development and People's Wellbeing Minister Datuk James Ratib.
This comes after a woman caregiver was seen in a viral video allegedly abusing a four-year-old boy at a childcare centre in Luyang here.
Describing the alleged incident involving the 27-year-old suspect as saddening and regrettable, Ratib said that he wanted the Social Welfare Department to carry out thorough checks on the background of staff employed by operators of kindergartens and nurseries.
“These operators must ensure that the teachers (and staff) who work for them are those who have values and love children,” he said to reporters on the sidelines of the Sabah assembly sitting here on Thursday (Aug 10).
“As the Minister of Community Development and People's Wellbeing, I am very sorry for what happened.
“I want there to be guidelines, especially for kindergarten or nursery operators, that the teachers and staff hired are those who really love children,” he added.
The caregiver, who was arrested on Wednesday (Aug 9), will be remanded for a week from Friday (Aug 11) to facilitate investigations into the child abuse case.
A 2-min 12-sec clip of the alleged incident went viral on Wednesday evening.
It shows a woman slapping and hitting a child multiple times, including with a metal object. She is also seen pulling his hair in front of other children at the centre.
Police have received three reports in relation to the incident - one from the boy’s mother, another from the centre operator and from the suspect, who claimed the child’s father had assaulted her.
Ratib said he has directed the Welfare Department under his ministry to ensure that licences were only issued to childcare centres with teachers and staff who were fully trained or educated to handle young children.
He said they also wanted all such nurseries and kindergartens to install closed-circuit cameras (CCTV) before the operators’ licences are issued or renewed.
"The installation of CCTV is one of our requirements. We require all such establishments under my ministry to install CCTV in their respective premises before renewing their licences,” he said.
He said initial investigations of the childcare centre where the alleged incident occurred found that the company running it had two licences to operate.
“One licence is for a kindergarten and another was to operate a taska,” Ratib said, adding that the kindergarten was licensed under the federal Education Ministry.
"I was given to understand that the caregiver concerned has been working there since 2020,” he said, adding that they were checking if there were other cases.
“I am taking the matter seriously, I don't want parents who send their children to kindergartens or nurseries to lose faith in these schools,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kota Kinabalu deputy police chief Supt Kalsom Idris said police were still investigating what motivated the suspect to abuse the boy.
She also urged the public to refrain from further sharing the clip on social media.
“This could cause anxiety among the public besides potentially harming our investigations,” she said.
