A daycare centre isn’t just about meals, sleep and relaxation. Somewhat, it ought to present holistic assist for youngsters’s cognitive improvement by way of completely different video games and play, in addition to guaranteeing correct vitamin
Three-year-old Ayan was sitting on Sefrun Nessa’s lap as we spoke in her workplace. Little Liana, in the meantime, climbed onto my lap and continued drawing on a chunk of paper she was carrying.
Sefrun Nessa is the proprietor of Subarashi Day Care Centre – an institution arrange in a three-bedroom condo within the capital’s Tikatuli space. At current, it has six youngsters, together with Liana, Ayan and his two brothers, and two different youngsters, all inside three to 10 years of age.
Apart from Liana, the remainder of the 5 youngsters have working dad and mom, largely engaged within the banking sector. Engaged on a schedule of 9 am to 4 pm, they depart their youngsters at Sefrun’s care at round 8:30 within the morning and decide them up at 5 pm.
The youngsters keep on the centre for nearly eight to 9 hours, 5 days every week. They bathe, nap and have two meals (breakfast and lunch) right here, together with snacks.
Kashem and Tanima, a banker couple, are dad and mom of three boys. The primary two are already going to high school.
At 8:30 within the morning, the couple depart dwelling with their youngest son Ayan and drop him off on the daycare centre. At 11 am, the 2 boys get again from faculty and be part of their brother there.
“We choose a daycare centre that gives service from 10 am to six pm, as we’re each working. We’re ready to get three seats on the authorities daycare centre in Motijheel, however they’re presently full. As quickly as we get the seats, we are going to shift our youngsters there as a result of the federal government centre is extra reasonably priced,” Kashem shared with us.
Liana has a stay-at-home mom however she was despatched to Subarashi by her dad and mom to enhance her communication and motor expertise.
“When four-and-a-half-year-old Liana first got here right here, she couldn’t say her identify; she did not communicate or work together with different youngsters. However after two months, she is now talking and sharing toys with different youngsters,” Sefrun mentioned.
“We stay in a residential space the place we have now no place for youngsters to play, they develop up lonely. They don’t learn to make pals, or manners, fundamental communication expertise, share issues and many others. On the daycare centre, she will get to fulfill youngsters from completely different household backgrounds. So, she is going to study social expertise,” mentioned Brishti, Liana’s mom.
However youngsters will ultimately study social expertise once they go to high school. Why now?
“When at dwelling, my baby is behaving the way in which I need her to. However I need to make sure she is well-behaved even when she goes out. In class, the atmosphere is formal, extra severe, it is about self-discipline. I need her to be ready for it,” she mentioned.
Sefrun Nessa began her profession as a caregiver in 2009 on the daycare centre of Bangladesh Financial institution. In 2018, her employer misplaced the contract to function the place, which left Sefrun and 20 different caregivers unemployed.
That 12 months she determined to start out her personal daycare centre as she had expertise of just about 10 years and had a community with working dad and mom.
“In 2019 once I first began Subarashi, I needed to make investments Tk10 lakh, which included the advance for the place, toys and inside design, and hiring caregivers. However then the pandemic hit and the dad and mom took their youngsters dwelling. I’m nonetheless paying the loans I took again then”, Sefrun mentioned.
“Bariwalas (condo house owners) don’t need to hire their locations to daycare centres, and even when they do, they demand a better advance quantity. Now, within the proposed Day Care Centre Regulation 2022, daycare centre house owners have to indicate a financial institution steadiness of Tk10 lakh earlier than making use of for registration. Is it potential for us to have that a lot cash?” she requested.
In 1991, the federal government took a big step in the direction of enabling working ladies to contribute to financial improvement by initiating the institution of daycare centres.
Initially, a complete of 12 daycare centres had been arrange in two phases underneath a venture particularly designed to assist low-income working moms.
Recognising the precise wants of ladies, a scheme titled ‘Youngster Day Care Centre for Youngsters of Working Center-Class and Decrease-Class Moms’ was launched in 1997.
In accordance with the Ministry of Girls and Youngsters Affairs, it has roughly 80 centres, 43 of that are maintained by the federal government, whereas two different tasks underneath the Directorate of Girls Affairs (DWA) keep 20 and 15 respectively.
The federal government daycare centres have two sections – one for youngsters from the middle-income group, with 50 seats, and the opposite for the decrease middle-income group with 80 seats, sometimes youngsters of family assist and RMG employees.
However apart from that, the directorate and the ministry haven’t any statistics on what number of non-public daycare centres are working within the metropolis.
Kaniz Tazia, deputy director of the kid care department of DWA, mentioned, “The Day Care Centre Rules 2022 remains to be underneath scrutiny, not but accredited. Consequently, there’s nonetheless no correct registration course of which can permit us to have a quantity.”
How a lot does it value for folks?
At Subarashi, dad and mom need to pay Tk 14,000 as an admission charge and the month-to-month charge is Tk 6,000 per baby. Sefrun Nessa manages the centre together with her elder sister and a caregiver who can also be the cook dinner.
Child’s Second House, an Uttara-based daycare centre takes in youngsters from the age of six months to 14 years. The admission charge is Tk10,000 and the month-to-month charge for youngsters aged 5 years and extra is Tk 7,000. The charge for youthful youngsters is Tk 8,000.
“We’re open from 6:30 within the morning until 5 within the night. We do stay open until 10 pm, however after 5 pm there’s an hourly cost,” mentioned Mehnaz, the proprietor.
However, authorities daycare centres are extra reasonably priced. Youngsters aged between 5 to 9 years are admitted right here. The admission charge is Tk500 and the month-to-month charge is Tk500 for the middle-income group youngsters and Tk50 for the lower-income group youngsters. The federal government daycare centre in Khilgaon has 30 youngsters within the middle-income group part.
Within the proposed regulation, youngsters of 4 months to 6 years previous will probably be allowed at daycare centres at a prescribed month-to-month charge of Tk2,000 to Tk5,000.
To feed or to not feed?
Whereas the federal government daycare centres present meals for youngsters, the non-public ones are divided right here – some do and a few do not.
Hosne Ara Begum, baby care officer on the Khilgaon authorities daycare centre, mentioned, “Though we have now two sections right here for youngsters relying on their socio-economic group, we offer the identical meals for all.”
Breakfast is milk with bread, shemai or semolina. Lunch is rice, daal, potato, greens and eggs or rooster. For afternoon snacks, the kids get bread, fruits, juice or wafers.
“We have to verify that the kids are getting all of the six parts of preferrred meals. So, we maintain eggs, lentils, rooster and fish which have fewer bones on the menu. But when any dad and mom need, they will present meals themselves,” Sefrun Nessa mentioned.
Daycare centres and early childhood improvement
We spoke to Sonia Akram, an early childhood improvement and training specialist and in addition the proprietor of ABC Early Studying Daycare Centre. She studied early childhood care and improvement training in Australia and for eight years labored within the daycare centres there.
In 2017, she lastly got here again to Bangladesh and began ABC Early Studying Daycare Centre in Dhaka. At the moment, she has 4 branches – in Niketan, Gulshan, Dhanmondi and Moghbazar.
In accordance with Sonia, 95% of a kid’s mind is fashioned inside the first 5 years and cognitive improvement continues until they’re eight years previous. So, the primary eight years of a kid is extraordinarily essential. So, daycare centres, the place the kids spend a big chunk of the day, have to be effectively conscious of this.
The darkish facet of fast urbanisation consists of our youngsters residing in congested homes with out correct entry to open air, daylight and many others. As an increasing number of dad and mom be part of the workforce, their youngsters are staying with home assist, watching tv and being uncovered to an unhealthy quantity of display time.
“This implies a holistic method in the direction of a toddler’s mind and cognitive improvement isn’t being ensured; they aren’t studying talk or share. Additionally, we would not have a framework for pre-schooling. The academics and the caregivers must study these items,” Sonia opined.
In accordance with Sonia, a daycare centre isn’t just about meals, sleep and relaxation. Somewhat, it ought to present holistic assist for youngsters’s socio-emotional, cognitive language and motor improvement by way of completely different video games and play. These video games have to be arrange age appropriately. The video games for a six-month-old will probably be completely different from these appropriate for a toddler.
“Daycare centres ought to have significant interactive toys. Solely vibrant automobiles or balls aren’t significant or inclusive. There ought to be blocks of various sizes, puzzles, pencil colors and paper. Video games and interactions are speculated to be the primary precedence in these centres, additionally they need to have preparations for youngsters with particular wants” she mentioned.
Earlier than looking for toys, there ought to be a danger assessment- whether or not the toy will probably be too troublesome and even dangerous for the kid to play with. For instance, youngsters aged between zero and 6 years will want vibrant flying toys that transfer, and gentle toys.
“Smooth toys impact the mind improvement of a kid. That is known as sensory play – it prompts their mind to answer alerts. Particular youngsters have to be given sensory therapies,” Sonia defined.
There ought to be storybooks for three-month-olds onwards; rhymes and songs are vital at this stage to develop a vocabulary for six-month-olds onwards. Youngsters want a variety of human contact – hugs and love are very vital for sensory improvement.
Youngsters aged between one and two years or barely older want much less difficult puzzles. For finger and muscle improvement, they have to be given big-size blocks, colouring pencils and paper to color and scribble. Dramatic play ought to be organized for them each day like kitchen play, and buying video games.
These aged greater than three years would require a bit tougher puzzles. That is the stage the place caregivers ought to introduce classes, alphabets, colors, crafts with scissors, glueing and pasting, and many others, for them. They may play with connecting puzzles which can develop their problem-solving life expertise.
Youngsters aged greater than six years have the capability to resolve greater puzzles, they’re additionally extra inventive. They do their homework on the daycare centre and play with different youngsters. At this stage, they want an open house for gross motor play that burns their power and entails motion.
The inside is an important a part of a spot the place the kids will keep. The partitions shouldn’t be too vibrant, these will overstimulate their brains and excite them. The shades have to be muted, but heat and welcoming.
“Youngsters as of late have a variety of sugary meals, they get a variety of display time, which can also be very loud and colourful- these overstimulate their brains,” Sonia mentioned.
Youngster-friendly furnishings is a should, the chairs and benches have to be positioned in such a method that disciplines them to sit down and place themselves. The bathroom must be their dimension. For youngsters aged greater than three years, the toy cabinets have to be at their eye stage.
“There was once a variety of taboo relating to daycare centres in Bangladesh. In 2013, once I first tried to start out a daycare centre, folks instructed me that daycare centres give youngsters sleeping drugs in order that they sleep all day. This isn’t true. Many working dad and mom in addition to stay-at-home dad and mom are availing daycare services as throughout the pandemic a number of youngsters are identified with completely different developmental delays and behavioural points. Now Docs and developmental therapists are suggesting these youngsters to ship in daycare centres,” she concluded.
