PETALING JAYA: Licensing home-based childcare providers could make daycare more accessible and ensure children’s safety.
Childline Foundation executive director Datin Wong Poai Hong said setting up childcare centres could be costly as it involved staffing, licensing and rental or purchase of the premises.
The charges, she said, could go up to RM700 to RM800 per child for providers to cover their cost.
“So, if you want affordable and accessible childcare, it is important to empower home-based providers who are already babysitting.
“Train them via a short course, especially for home-based childcare,” said Wong, who added that home-based childcare providers were currently not required to be licensed unless the Child Care Centre Act 1984 is amended.
“We have requested for regulations to be enacted, especially for home-based care centres, to enable providers to be registered with the Social Welfare Department. “We have to find a solution on how we can license these providers and make sure they comply with certain minimum standards,” she added.
Wong also said childcare centres should have a child protection policy outlining what the staff could and could not do when handling children, adding that it should involve processes related to abuse and how to detect it, how to communicate with children and how to screen staff members.
“CCTV is not the answer because abuse could take place at a blind spot. It is important to instil professionalism in childcare providers by giving them training on child rights and protection.”
Wong also noted that it was important for childcare providers to be given more training in handling children under the age of four as these were vital formative years. Early Childhood Care and Education Council Malaysia founding president Datuk Dr Chiam Heng Keng said all childcare providers, regardless of whether they provide the service at their homes or at registered childcare centres, should be well-trained so that they had the essential knowledge and competency to ensure the children’s well-being and prevent maltreatment such as hitting, shouting or screaming, and discriminating against children. “Abuse is not just (confined to) physical abuse. Cognitive, social and emotional abuse can be more devastating and have lifelong (effects) than physical abuse.”
For instance, she said, shouting at or scolding children for a mistake that was done without them knowing it was wrong could have a damaging impact.
“The adult may think that children know what to do but in reality, they do not.
“Therefore, what is of great importance is knowledge of child development, ways of guiding young children, communication skills, ethics and professionalism.
“These five (elements) are core components of the training of early childhood educators and are not add-ons,” she said.
