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The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs yesterday issued a warning to individuals or legal entities running activities similar to those carried by the nursery schools without licenses.
The Ministry has warned all the individuals and the legal entities in the state from receiving children for holding activities similar to that of nursery schools, said the Ministry in its twitter handle recently.
The Ministry highlighted that it issued notice “due to the serious health and safety risk for children that might result from such a practice”.
The government has issued a law regulating these activities and has a set criteria for nursery buildings to ensure security and safety of the children but some parents are leaving their children with other families or people who are providing nursery like services illegally, said a member of the Central Municipal Council (CMC) Jassim bin Abdullah Al Malki, the former vice chairman of the council and chairman of Services and Facilities Committee, representative of constituency Number 1.
"In my constituency, Doha Al Jadida, I did not come across such activities but we need to differentiate between day-care services and illegally established nurseries that provide nursery services in residential facilities," said Al Malki while talking to The Peninsula yesterday.
There are some parents who cannot afford fees of nurseries or don’t have house maids, therefore they leave their children with other families on daily basis until they come back from works, and this is upon individual agreement which is very difficult to control or prevent, said Al Malki, who added that if the number was more than one or two children then it had become a kind of business which needed to be licensed.
In its notice the Ministry said: “With regard to the supervisory role it has issued notice on nursery schools, and in order to ensure the protection of children from being exposed to risks at places that carry out activities similar to that of nursery schools in the state without a licenses according to the provision of Law No 1/2014 which regulates nurseries”.
Companies urged to open day care centres
According the notice, all those who do not abide by the law “will be liable to legal prosecution, as well as their subordinates and employees both for (criminal – civil liability) as stipulated either in law No 1/2014 regulating nursery schools or by the penal Code issued in Law No 11/2004 and its amendments”.
This phenomenon is very limited as many people are aware of the risks of dealing with unlicensed entities or individuals and therefore they hire housemaids or leave their children in legal nurseries, Al Malki (pictured) told The Peninsula. He recalled the sad incident of Villaggio Mall fire where 13 children and six adults died, saying: "People have learnt a lot from this incident."
The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs has inspectors to monitor such activities but inspectors are not allowed to enter houses without legal permission from the attorney general, said Al Malki.
The CMC did not discuss this issue before, said Al Malki, when asked whether the council had raised the issue or not.
"When the Ministry of Economy and Commerce has allowed opening of home-based businesses, then why people are not getting licences to run such business legally, and people know that it is not easy to meet the security and safety requirements for business of day care and nursery activities," said an inspector at the Ministry of Administrative Development who did not want to be quoted. "However, the solution is to encourage companies and ministries to open day-care centers at workplaces for mothers to look after their babies," he added.
Um Anas, a customer, said: “I tried to find a nursery in the area I am living but the woman receiving children at home for day care told me she only accepts the same nationality to avoid language and cultural barriers”. Asked how much she used to ask for the services, she said only QR300 per month. "That is why I brought my child to this nursery," she added.
