Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri. - filepic
PUTRAJAYA: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will establish a database of registered babysitters to help parents choose daycare centres and carers for their children.
Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said currently there is no platform or referral centre for parents to choose babysitters.
“As of now, we do not have any centralised data. When people send their children to a daycare centre, there is no indication, only word of mouth.
“These parents want to know where the daycare is and who is running it,” she told Bernama after opening the 2023 National Congress on Childcare and Early Education here yesterday.
“The move to build the database is still at the planning stage.”
Meanwhile, her ministry will hold 105 engagement sessions with local authorities nationwide this year to find a solution to facilitate the registration of babysitters interested in running nurseries.
Nancy said she often received complaints from entrepreneurs who want to operate legally and be registered, but they said they face bureaucratic and technical problems from local authorities.
She will talk to Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming on how to make it easier for nursery operators to operate legally without compromising safety.
At the ministry level, Nancy said it only takes 30 days to get approval to register a nursery, but operators must first meet the safety conditions set by local authorities.
“Conditions that must be met are the location of the nursery, such as the distance from the main road, it must not be more than one storey, and there is a need for a security door. These conditions are a challenge for nursery operators when registering,” she said.
As of December last year, it was found that 1,080 nurseries were not registered with the Social Welfare Department.
