It is encouraging to see Dr Zubaida Rahman, Prime Minister's wife and Vice President of Ziaur Rahman Foundation, acknowledging the importance of expanding child day-care centres recently, where she emphasized their role not only in ensuring children's safety but also in fostering their cognitive and social development, while enabling more women to participate in the workforce.
Her remarks draw attention to a long-standing gap in Bangladesh's social infrastructure: While the number of child development centres has increased over the years, they remain woefully insufficient to meet the country's needs.
With only a tiny fraction of children having access to these facilities, countless working parents -- particularly mothers -- continue to struggle to balance their professional responsibilities with childcare.
Too often, this forces women to reduce their working hours or leave the workforce altogether, representing a significant loss of talent and productivity.
It is important that the government heed this call by making the establishment of quality day-care centres a national priority. Expanding such facilities should not be confined to government offices alone but should extend to industrial zones, educational institutions, hospitals, and large private-sector workplaces.
Incentives for businesses to establish workplace day-care facilities, alongside stronger regulatory standards to ensure quality and safety, would go a long way toward creating a reliable childcare network.
Equally important is ensuring that these centres are spaces that acknowledge early childhood as a critical period for learning and development, and provide stimulating environments staffed by trained caregivers capable of nurturing children's emotional, cognitive, and social growth.
As Bangladesh seeks to increase women's participation in the labour force, accessible and affordable child day-care centres are now essential. Expanding them would support families, strengthen the economy, and give countless children the opportunity to begin life on a firmer foundation.
A quality child day-care system is not only a convenience for working parents, but an investment in the nation's future.