A set of 10 national standards for child day-care facilities, as well as a one-off Lm130,000 improvement grant for day-care centres, was launched yesterday in a joint project by the Family and Social Solidarity Ministry and the Education Ministry.
Following a public consultation exercise started in 2004, the two ministries together drew up a list of 10 standards to ensure maximum quality child-care facilities for children below three years of age. The standards deal with the adequate training of child-care providers, the adequacy of the premises and equipment (including safety issues and the creation of an environment conducive to learning), encouraging learning through play, promoting inclusion and celebrating diversity, and encouraging collaboration between the centres and parents.
The government has pledged to financially assist facilities in order to prevent expenses incurred from being transferred onto the parents. The Department for Social Welfare Standards (DSWS) will administer the Lm130,000 grant and will work on a phased-in approach, giving initial priority to four of the 10 standards.
The grant, that will run from next month to December 2007, is for already-existing facilities catering for children under the age of three. The facilities benefiting from the improvement grant will enter into an agreement with DSWS and will bind themselves to reach these standards within a given time-frame.
“The first few years of children’s lives are crucial to their proper development,” said Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina. “Therefore, investing in good quality child-care services is both a way of ensuring the best for the child, and a good investment in the human resources of our country.”
Ms Cristina added that child-care centres do not just baby-sit, but also offer a socialisation process to compensate for the reduction in natural socialising opportunities on account of the diminishing size of the typical Maltese family. They also offer shelter and relief for children who come from problem families.
Ms Cristina described the Appogg SmartKids Child and Family Support Centre at Kalkara as a success story to be emulated.
Education Minister Louis Galea praised the strong collaborative links between both ministries since they offer services to the same client: the child. He also said that science shows that we learn 90 per cent of our life skills during our first three years and a high standard is therefore required in the running of child-care centres.
In the ensuing discussion, a member of the audience called for a more affordable service, arguing that lower-income families make more use of child-care centres, because mothers are under financial pressure to go out to work.