Only 736 individuals register home nursery with Welfare Department — Rohani

MARAN: Many operators of home child care centres in the country have been found not registered with the Welfare Department (JKM).

According to Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim, so far only 736 home nurseries had been registered with JKM including 52 in Pahang when the number is believed to be much higher.

“Home nurseries with less than 10 children are required to register, failing which the operators could be charged under the Child Care Centre Act 1984 (Act 308) and face a fine of RM10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both. JKM had carried out an amnesty programme in 2014 but the number of unregistered centres continued to increase despite the offer of various incentives if they were to do so,” she said when commenting on an incident in which a 13-month-old baby died while under the care of a childminder recently.

She told reporters after opening the Maran ECER Empowerment programme convention here yesterday.

Meanwhile, the brand logo and portal of the 2018 Women Empowerment Year (TMW 2018) will be launched in Putrajaya on Wednesday.

Rohani said the launching of the logo and portal would enable the ministry to coordinate and promote activities relating to the development of women carried out by the ministry or nongovernmental organisations.

“The use of the logo will also be extended to each state including entrepreneurship programmes such as empower East Coast Economic Region (ECER) in which many participants were women. — Bernama