One of the more prevalent issues that we collectively fail to address as a nation is the importance of early-age care for our children. Newer parents, especially, often find it difficult to tend to their newborns while they are working. Which, more often than not, makes life very difficult for women to effectively participate in the workplace.
While the administration only recently announced plans to introduce paternity leave into our country, there are further steps which can be taken to ensure that our children grow up safe and secure without their parents compromising on productivity.
Which is where day care centres come in.
Rural Bangladesh is currently undergoing a quiet revolution in child care and education, as community-run day-care centres are helping parents work knowing their children are safe and secure. These centres, named Anchal, are being operated by the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB) with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, and are having a positive impact in changing parenting styles in these areas.
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It is good to know that the government is already studying the model set forth by Anchal and is setting up an initiative that would see as many as 200,000 children in 45 upazilas from 16 districts able to avail daycare services in the next three years.
This is the kind of pro-active steps that we should be expecting more from our government.
Of course, it’s not simply up to the government to ensure such facilities are made available. In our urban areas, the onus primarily lies on our private sector to provide employees with childcare facilities -- which most companies fail to even consider.
There is no denying that lack of access to good quality, affordable child care is a major obstacle to women’s participation in the labour force, as women usually bear a disproportionate share of child care responsibilities. The introduction of paternity leave will, hopefully, change that.
When it comes to child care, when cannot afford to trail behind other countries any longer than we already have.
