Approval and registration from the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Ministry are going to be compulsory to establish any childcare centre in the country, said officials of the Parliament Secretariat.
The parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs on Tuesday recommended the same at one of its meetings.
The meeting held at the National Parliament Building made the recommendation while reviewing a draft law on the ‘Childcare Centre.
Chaired by Meher Afroz, the Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Fazilatunnesa Indira, committee members Abdul Aziz, Shabnam Jahan, Lutfun Nesa Khan and Sahadara Mannan, among others, took part in the meeting.
The meeting sources also said that the draft law also proposed a jail term for the missing of any child from any day care center or for operating a center without registration.
The proposed law states that child daycare centers now under operation must register within six months of the new law being passed. Then all the child day care centers will come under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.
If this law is enacted, government, semi-government, autonomous and non-governmental organisations will be able to set up and manage the designated class centers under their own management.
Earlier on April 3, the State Minister for Women and Children Affairs raised the 'Child Day Care Center Bill-2021' in the Parliament.
The bill was later examined within two months and sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs for a report to Parliament.
The bill further states that daycare centers need to ensure the necessary services, health care, safety, recreation, medical, education and child-friendly environment and necessary facilities for the child with special needs in the field.
Besides, every child care centre must organise a views exchange meeting with parents or guardians once every three months.
According to sources, at present, there are 119 day care centers under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and 20 others under the Ministry of Social Welfare.
The sources said the draft law proposes a maximum of 10 years imprisonment as well as a fine of up to Tk 50,00,000 for a child missing from a child daycare center.
Once this law is passed, no one will be able to run a child daycare center without approval. It would be a crime to operate any childcare centre without approval.
There is a provision of two years imprisonment and a fine of Tk 10 lakh for running the center without registration.
The bill also stipulated a six-month jail term or a fine of Tk 100,000 for spreading infectious diseases or abetting information in these centers.