Task force mooted for childcare

A memorandum has been submitted to Chief Secretary

But none of the organisations co-ordinate or follow a common criterion in terms of creche services, health, education or nutrition. In an effort to integrate these services, the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) is trying to get a task force to develop a convergence point for all these organisations.

At a meeting held last month with all the agencies, including BBMP, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), an attempt was made to streamline the services being offered by all the agencies with the ultimate goal of increasing and improving the quality of daycare facilities for children.

Disparity in pay

Chairperson of KSCPCR, Nina Nayak said that there are considerable problems to be addressed before ironing out the quality of services provided. “At present, there is a great amount of disparity in pay and training among the care givers. In addition to this, there is a geographical overlapping of the areas that are covered under various programmes. In addition to this there is no guarantee that the nutrition level being recommended for the children are being adhered to,” she added.

Incidentally, none of the organisations which are a mix of NGOs and State-run  programmes have established networks with any departments for health and pre-school education needs. There are several issues that KSCPCR is trying to address like a comprehensive early child care development policy, to get child care for children aged 0-6
years from all the organisations.

While anganwadis provide services for children who are aged two-and-a-half and younger, day care services are not to be found for children in the age group of 0 to 3, as most of the child care units are capable of handling children only between 3 to 6 years of age.

This has led to a lot of problems for the women workers. Most of the centres also wind up early in the afternoon, forcing parents who work till evening to find alternative arrangements.

Nayak said that under a task force, a common guideline could be prepared keeping the needs of all the stakeholders in mind. A memorandum has been submitted to the Chief Secretary in this regard.

Creche facilities

Some acts that make provision of creche facilities by private companies mandatory are:

* Factories Act 1948
* Plantation Labour Act 1951
* Mines Act 1952
* Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970
* Inter-state Migrant Workers Act 1980
* Building and Construction Workers Act (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Work) 1996
* National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005