Sarawak needs more childcare centres at workplace – Fatimah
KUCHING: Sarawak is in need of more registered nurseries and childcare centres to enable women to return to work as soon as possible after having given birth.
In stating this, Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah opines that Sarawak has many talented women in various fields, but also many of them have to stop working because of the difficulty in getting childcare while they are at work.
“The establishment of childcare centres at the workplace is good for young, working parents as some of them are unable to hire maids or get family assistance.
“So employers need to look at the option of building nurseries or childcare centres at the workplace as a very critical support system,” she spoke at the opening of ‘Little Power Genius Childcare Centre’ at Menara Sarawak Energy auditorium here yesterday.
It is learnt that the childcare centre is the first of its kind set up by Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB).
According to Fatimah, there are 234 registered childcare centres in Sarawak and 12 childcare centres at the workplace, including SEB’s ‘Little Power Genius’.
The minister said to assist these childcare centres, the Sarawak government provides a special annual fee of RM5,000 to all registered nurseries and kindergartens.
These grants, she added, could be used to provide healthy and balanced meals for the children, or fun-filled teaching and learning programmes that emphasise the digitisation of care and education of children.
“The grant can also be used to carry out a variety of activities that would involve the parents, and also to run courses or training for the educators and caregivers.”
On Little Power Genius, Fatimah said its establishment by the SEB showed how an organisation could encourage its young employees and assure them some peace of mind, especially the new mothers.
“I understand that the establishment of Little Power Genius is a follow- up to the request by Sesco’s union, realised through a close collaboration between Sarawak Energy Leading Women’s Network (SELWN) and the SEB’s human resources department. This is a good example and we hope more organisations and agencies in the country would take up similar initiatives,” she said.
Assistant Minister of Community Well-Being Datuk Francis Harden Hollis and SEB Group chief executive officer Datuk Sharbini Suhaili were also present.