The Women at Work Committee (MAS) views the policy document regarding National Standards for Child Day Care Facilities, presented by the Education, Youth and Employment Ministry together with the Family and Social Solidarity Ministry, as a step forward in regularity childcare facilities in Malta as well as securing quality services in the future.
Setting quality standards is essential in what is still a relatively new area. Monitoring to ensure that these standards are met is also a must. The Women at Work Committee, whilst appreciating the positive aspects of the policy, is concerned about a number of issues.
For example, day centres for very young children are not state-run, and therefore are not free. Costs may be prohibitive to low and middle income parents who may need to utilise the service.
The second issue, according to MAS, is that the ratio of adults to children as specified in the document is also a cause for concern as an assistant is mentioned only in the case of kindergarten centres.
A single person cannot be solely responsible for a group of small children.
The provision of childcare facilities at the workplace rests only on employers and unfortunately their response is not guaranteed. The need is felt for a constant campaign among employers to make them more sensitive to the needs of their female workforce, MAS said.
The sum of Lm130,000 that was mentioned should be considered as a first step. It should serve to reflect the commitment to start the service on the right track. However, securing a fitting physical environment and ensuring that the appropriate physical and human resources are in place require much more funding.
Parents also need to be constantly reminded that kindergarten centres or childcare centres use an appropriate programme with emphasis on play and socialisation and are not the places to start former learning at an early age.
Input from all stake holders needs to be constant and not just at the initial stage if it is to be ensured that the service offered remains one of good quality, MAS said.