Separation of Power Under Bangladesh and USA Constitution

Introduction

Woman is the fundamental organ of the human society. With the men, women play a very imperative role in the development of society as well as the whole world. From the very begging, in the development of science, literature, education, politics and religion, women were the pioneer or subsequent developer besides men.

Now a days, in 21^st century, we have got a civilized world for living, although inequity of the society are there which differs on the economical development of the countries, but such civilized situation is not made over night. Some greater leaders and their activities made it. They all are not men or women, some of them were women and some were men. At present, the whole world is divided into three on the basis of the economic developments, i.e; developed countries, developing countries and under developed countries. Now, come into the developed countries, in a developed country, the human rights condition is much better than others, even they never treat a woman as weaker than a man. The government allows all in equal opportunity and gives equal value.

Bangladesh is a signatory to various international instruments, designed to secure gender equality and development of the woman status which include in Universal Declaration of Human Rights and CEDAW. Bangladesh has ratified most of the provisions of CEDAW with reservations Article 2 and 16(C), because those make conflict with personal law. In Bangladesh, the women’s organizations, human rights organization and NGOs have been playing crucial role in implementing Beijing platform for action and have undertaken programs to eliminate discrimination against women. In 1997, the government adopted a national policy for the Advancement of Women in conformity with the Beijing Declaration and other declarations adopted at different.

Day care is a combination of two words, namely Day and Care. According to the words combination, Day Care means caring in day time. But the question is caring of what in day?

Day care or child care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child’s legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child’s immediate family. Day care is typically an ongoing service during specific periods, such as the parents’ time at work.

Summary of the research

Day care is a combination of two words, namely Day and Care. Act is for the declarations cording to the words combination, Day Care means caring in day time. In other word, the women who earn money by their labor or work or duty from any institution or any others sector, then they called women workers.

It is unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire a woman because she is pregnant. It is also unlawful for the employer to give a female employee certain duties because she is pregnant, such as putting a pregnant server at the hostess stand instead of letting her wait tables.

Day care or child care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child’s legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child’s immediate family. This information is presented to help parents understand what to expect from their child.

Drive around and look at the playground equipment in the play yards of the public schools and at the day care centers in your area. For mothers of today, usually better educated than their mothers are more aware of these factors and wanting the best for their children, are demanding the structured pre-school education and learning stimulation offered by modern day care centers.

In response to this need, Phulki has created a series of factory-based childcare centers or crèche facilities for children between the ages of 6 weeks and 2 years. In almost all cases, this idea has been received with great enthusiasm by both mothers and factory owners, and given many advantages of on-site child care centers, including increased productivity from happier workers, factory owners have been in compliance with the Factory Act of 1965.

Traditionally in Bangladesh child care responsibilities fall on the extended family.

Mothers who traditionally stayed at home to care for their children must now work either in garment factories, as brick chipper on building sites or in domestic service.

In 1997 the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report found that out of 175 countries, Bangladeshi standards of women’s employment, management and leadership positions, left them way below average in 144th place.

The Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act 1933: Provides for the punishment of forcing a girl under 18 years into prostitution. As a minimum, States and Territories will not require that existing services upgrade to the new standard. The standard of care provided for each child must ensure maximum personal safety.

In the event of a child becoming ill or having an accident, every attempt must be made to ensure the sound management of the child to exacerbation of the situation and to secure necessary medical treatment.

In the interests of maintaining rights and to ensure the emotional security of the child, every attempt must be made to inform the parent of the status of the health of the child in such situations.

The applicant for a child day care license must submit to the Office a diagram of the proposed child day care center together with the application for licensur e.

The provider must submit to the Office a written plan for the emergency evacuation of the children from the center’s premises using a form provided by the Office.

The concern of day-care having adverse effects on children began to emerge when social change allowed women to break from the traditional role of care-taker and instead participate in the workplace.9 Now that there has been a transition in the gender role of women it is important to consider how other institutions such as day-care effect the development of children.

The amount of time spent in high quality day-care was positively related to the number of peers the child had in grade school and the number of extracurricular activities they were involved with.

However, the strength of this finding declines over time.

Evaluations were made of the quality of the day-care received in preschool and outcomes of the children were calculated through parent surveys, standard test procedures and teacher ratings.25 Quality of care seemed to have an impact on the outcomes of the children and those who received higher quality care tended to have higher and more positive ratings in most of the skills assessed.

Opting to enroll children in a quality day care program is one of the smartest decisions parents can make.

Without sufficient coverage for children younger and older than the usually covered age of 3 to 6 there is a clear deficit of possibilities for parents to plan for their respective balance of work and family tasks, thereby devaluating what might have been already achieved with respect to the age group 3-6.

Furthermore it should be taken in mind, that facilities for the age groups mentioned before have a strong link with educational and equity linked purposes, given the fact, that especially early child care of good quality can be a reliable contribution to the childrens’ personal development; especially children from difficult family and community backgrounds can profit from early professional care and an enlarged and more diversified offer of care and services in school.

In between of these extreme points, the offers of child minders, parent-child initiatives, and support and counseling services can strengthen and multiply the bridges between the private and public dimensions of child care.

Statement of problem

The present circumstances in Bangladesh of factory or any establishment sector are not follow the rule and regulation of labor law. Especially the matter of women work they are-

not gets proper Facility in the working place,
they are have the right to get a child room but have no child room in establishment,
Such rooms shall be conveniently accessible to the mothers of the children accommodated therinbut the authority of the factory not arrange this facility.
A suitable fenced and shady open air play ground shall be provided for the older children but if examine that situation of the factory have no this kind of facility viable.

1.4. Objectives of the research

This research paper express about the right to child care facilities for the woman in the working place, so

First objective of this research paper to ensure this facilities for the working woman,
This facilities establish as a right not only right a vital element for establish a factory,
To implemented the rules and regulation which are relating with matte,
To ensure this facilities not only for working woman but also their children in the working place,

The objective of this research work is the assessment of providing standard child day care services for the children of the working women in day time while they work in offices.

Children are the future of a nation. Their proper treatment and providing facilities for better future is the duty of a State, as well the offices of the working women when they are in tensed with their child’s future.

Our research work indicates the government and the all sort of office authorities to establish the child day care center for the children of the women workers.

Our research work indicates the problems and challenges of establishing a day care center, by which assessment Governmental Organization and Non Governmental organization may find out the probable status of Child Day Care Center in Bangladesh.

Hypothesis

I have realized that when I have finish problem the woman worked in the Bangladesh Labor Act 2006 have the provision for this facility. But the facility of child care not ensure by the industrial owner so government will take stapes for make binding to establish any factory in our country, if any factory establish without this child care facility for the woman worker in working place, relating authority not given the permission to establish any industry decks . SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STURD

The subject matter of the research deals with those facilitates for the worker specially the women worker .It deals the Bangladesh Labor Act ,2006 chapter v111 –section 94 .By this provision in every establishment ,where in more than forty woman workers are ordinarily employed , their shall provided and maintained a suitable room or rooms for the use of children under the age six years of such women By the life of this provision also some journal, statutory law ,convention treaty and daily newspaper express this matter child care facility for the working women in working place.

RESERCH Methodology

This research is an independent research, constructed intended to fulfill its object. For completing this research, we used some primary and secondary documents.

Primary Documents:

Primary documents are as follows;

01. Internet documents,

02. Related books,

03. Journals, etc.

Secondary Documents:

Secondary documents are as follows;

01. UN Reports,

02. CEDAW Conventions,

03. Child Right Convention,

04. UNDP Reports, etc.

2. We, as a researcher, takes some necessary interview and made some statistics. On the basis of analyses of those we constitute this research.

3. we, as a researcher, have visited some day care centre and discussed with that’s officials and collect data and information from them.

4. We, as a researcher, on the basis of aforesaid resource we made analyses and gathers necessary information and data which was need for making a fruitful research. And after passing along time with hard work we have completed our research paper.

Meaning

But the human rights condition of developing and under developed countries is quite different than the developed countries. In these countries, women are treated as a matter without any status. But it really true that, the above mentioned thinking is abolishing very slowly. Education and modern concept of society have developed the thinking but still such thinking is in existence.

There are a lot of international instrument and international organization for ensuring women’s rights, eliminating discrimination and development. There are some regional mechanisms also. In every where the international jurist community tries to develop the women society and establishing their rights.

Day care is a combination of two words, namely Day and Care. According to the words combination, Day Care means caring in day time. But the question is caring of what in day?

Definitions

Children: the children included in the cross-sectional analyses in this report were aged six

Months to 71 months at the time of interview. They were divided into the following age groups:

Less than 1 year old: children aged 6 to 11 months

One year old: children aged 12 to 23 months

Two years old: children aged 24 to 35 months

Three years old: children aged 36 to 47 months

Four years old: children aged 48 to 59 months

Five years old: children aged 60 to 69 months.

Non-parental child care: Non parental child care refers to care a child received that was not from their mother, father or guardian. The reporting parent was asked whether they used child care while the reporting parent was at work or studying. Children were identified as being in child care if the reporting parent replied yes. Note that the at work part of the question may have been interpreted not only as paid work but unpaid work, volunteer work, or something else considered by the respondent to be work.

Parental care: Parental care refers to care a child received from a parent or guardian. The reporting parent or was asked whether they used child care while the reporting parent was at work or studying. Children were identified as being in parental care if the reporting parent replied no. Note that the reporting parent may have replied no for a number of reasons, two of which could be

a) the parents was not working or studying, or

b) While at work or studying, the parent did not use child care.

Main child care arrangement: Main child care arrangement refers to the non-parental child care arrangement in which the child spent the most hours per week, as reported by the parent. There are five main care arrangements discussed in the report:

A. care outside the child’s home by a non-relative;

B. care outside the child’s home by a relative;

C. care in the child’s home by a non-relative;

D. care in the child’s home by a relative care in a daycare centre; and

E. other care which includes nursery school or preschool, before or after school programs, or other unspecified non-parental care.

Care in own home: child care arrangement where child is cared for in their own home. This type of care can be by a relative not a parent or guardian or a non-relative.

Care outside the home: child care arrangement where child is cared for in someone else’s home. This type of care can be by a relative not a parent or guardian or a non-relative, but does not include daycare centers.

Care in daycare centre: Care in daycare centre means child care arrangement where child is cared for in a daycare centre. This is considered a separate category from “care outside the home with a non-relative.

Other care: this type of care combines nursery school/preschool, before or after school programs, or other unspecified care.

Care by a non-relative: the caregiver is neither a relative nor a parent or guardian.

Care by a relative: the caregiver is a member of the child’s family but is not a parent. This includes brothers and sisters.

Licensed child care: the parent reported that the care arrangement has been licensed by the government or approved by a family daycare agency.

Full-time child care: the child spends 30 hours or more per week in non-parental child care.

Part-time child care: the child spends less than 30 hours per week in non-parental child care.

Working women and rights of them for being worker

Work is a basic phenomenon of our common humanity. We all work – though we may not be recognized and waged – work underpins the struggle for development. It is the wasted potential of so many people, who are willing to undertake the tasks society needs to be done but who are prevented from doing so by an uneven distribution of power and resources, which enable underdevelopment to persist.

Women Workers

When women get or earn wages by her labor, then she called women worker. In other word, the women who earn money by their labor or work or duty from any institution or any others sector, then they called women workers.

while women represent 50% of the world’s adult population, and one-third of the official labor force, they perform nearly two-third of all working hours, receive only one-tenth of the world income and own less than 1% of the world’s property[1] .

But, women have always worked and their labour plays a key role in the survival of millions of families. They work longer hours and hard work than men and have a greater range of responsibilities, but the work they do is often neither publicly nor privately acknowledged. Women are not a minority group or special category .Similarly, women’s work is not just another issue. Although women have been subordinated and marginalized in different ways for much of history, their labour-and the exploitation of that labour is the foundation of society wealth. Women perform the vital function of producing society’s producers and yet this role is made to appear private, marginal and without economic value.

Nowadays, women are not only work for social welfare they also contribute in economic welfare. Most of the women of the whole world now work and earn as same as men. But the situation of women has not been changed, the working women,

* earn less for comparative work, are often barred from certain forms of lucrative employment, and perform much of their work in the unpaid private sector, including the rural sector. They have no choice but to accept poorly paid, undervalued work in often dangerous working conditions and with no job security.

* earn on average about three-fourth of the pay of male of same work, outside the agricultural sector, in both developed and developing countries.

* in most countries approximately twice the unpaid time men do.

* make up 31% of the official labour force in developing countries and 46.7% worldwide.

* who works in rural area produce more than 55% of all food grown in developing countries.

* legal barriers, including those derived from customary law to the ownership of, or access to, land, resources, capital, and technology, restrict women’s advancement.

Working Women in the Modern Global Economy:

Unskilled women workers have entered export‐processing industries throughout the developing world at an alarming rate. Women overwhelmingly occupy the lowest paying, most unstable jobs, producing our clothes, agricultural products and other luxuries for export to the US.

As the free trade model replicates worldwide, multinational corporations exploit increasingly weak and flexible labor laws. The result is that women workers are systematically denied their rights to regular pay and regular working hours; equal pay for equal work; permanent contracts; safe and non‐hazardous work environments; and freedom of association. Labor law reforms have denied women access to social, maternity and health benefits and women are increasingly subject to subcontracting schemes that blatantly undermine these rights. In light of the global economic crisis, precarious employment has increased women are the first to be unemployed or underemployed.

Weak Labor Laws Hurt Working Women in around the World

• More than 80% of the women workers in Colombia receive less than the legal minimum wage.

• Women have lost an average of $21‐25 a week after the 2002 labor law reform.

With the reforms, the workday was extended as the workweek became 48 hours a week, distributed over a period of 6 days allowing employers to create a margin of between 6 in the morning to 10 at night to organize the workday. Extra payment for working on Sundays and public holidays was reduced.

• On average women earn 14% less than men.

• Precarious employment has a very negative impact on female incomes.

The labor law reform was adopted in Colombia to reduce labor costs. The government claimed this would generate more employment but the results were that.

According to Colombia’s National Labor School from 2005‐2007, the

• Underemployment rate went from 31.6% to 34.8% as temporary jobs increased. During the same period, the rate of workers who claim that their income is inadequate increased by 4%.

• Less than 35% of the women have access to social security

Studies from the Colombia Auditor General’s office and the World Bank all acknowledge that the labor law reform has not met its goals. Analysts have concluded that it has increased poverty by reducing workers’ income.

Bangladesh receives trade benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences but.

• Fewer than half the women in Bangladesh garment factories have a contract and most get no maternity or health coverage.

Rights of Women Workers

Women are guaranteed equal access to employment, before and during the hiring process. Companies and employment agencies must encourage and review applications from both sexes, and discourage discriminatory requests. Hiring-related advertising should not suggest a preference for male or female candidates.

Benefits

Retirement and pension plans should be available to women workers and allocated on an equal basis. Information and communication about benefits, including retirement and pension plans, should be provided to all workers, including women workers.

In case of injury, women workers have the right to medical care, compensation for lost wages during recovery, or compensation for permanent damage resulting in weakened ability to work, or death.

Career Opportunities:

All employees, including women, should be appropriately informed of opportunities for promotion, transfer and training. Company rules or policies should not exclude workers of one sex from seeking these career opportunities.

Cultural Identity:

All workers, including women, have the right to observe religious holidays, celebrations and prayers. Women workers have the right to time off from work in order to mourn a deceased relative, and to wear traditional dress and hairstyles.

Equal Pay:

Women workers have the right to receive remuneration based on work performed, not based on their sex. Pay structures should be built on objective criteria. All salary bonus systems should reflect equal pay for both men and women workers.

Facilities and equipment:

Facilities and equipment in the workplace should be available to all workers, including women workers. Equipment should accommodate the needs of women workers; for example, appropriate sizes should be available for uniforms.

Freedom from harassment:

Women workers have the right to work without being encumbered by harassment or bullying. Women workers may not be asked to performing additional work tasks because of their sex. Victims of harassment should be protected from workplace retaliation after filing complaints.

Sexual harassment may include jokes, inappropriate comments or looks, or invitations for sexual liaison.

Women workers have the right to file a complaint against inappropriate treatment at the workplace. Complaints should be reviewed and researched by a designated committee before a resolution is reached.

Marital Status, Maternity and Breastfeeding:

Women workers have the right to seek employment and undergo hiring processes regardless of marital status, whether single, married, widowed or divorced. Job-related responsibilities involving travel or entertainment do not justify inquiry into marital or family status.

The Maternity Protection Convention of 1952 states that women workers, while on maternity leave, have the right to sufficient pay to maintain themselves and their babies.

Medical benefits, including prenatal, hospital and post-natal care, should be provided. When breastfeeding, women should have two 30-minute breaks each day for that purpose.

Physical demands:

Health and safety should not be compromised when assigned to lift, carry or otherwise transport heavy loads. Pregnant women or women who have recently given birth have the right not to be asked to carry heavy loads. Pregnant women workers should not be forced to work with vibrating machines or radiation equipment.

Right to Equal Treatment:

Female workers have the right to be treated equally in the workplace. This means that a woman cannot be discriminated against in the hiring process–that is, not getting a position because she is a woman, despite being equally qualified. A female worker also has the right to perform any duty for which she is qualified and cannot be made to do certain work because she is a woman–for example, making women sew and men press in a garment factory. Companies cannot discriminate against women in firing–laying off only female workers while downsizing, for example.

Rights Against Sexual Harassment:

Women have the right to protect themselves against any sexual requests or demands at work, physical touching and a sexually hostile environment. This includes situations when women are forced into sexual relations by a colleague or supervisor for a promotion or job security. A sexually hostile environment includes a place of work where offensive sexual names or jokes are used. If this type of behavior is interfering with a woman’s–or any employee’s–ability to work comfortably, it will likely qualify as sexual harassment.

Maternity Rights:

Maternity rights grant female employees protection from being discriminated against for being pregnant. It is unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire a woman because she is pregnant. It is also unlawful for the employer to give a female employee certain duties because she is pregnant, such as putting a pregnant server at the hostess stand instead of letting her wait tables. A woman also cannot be fired because she is pregnant. If other employees are given medical leave, a pregnant woman has a right to take medical leave when she has a baby. She also has the right to keep her job despite being pregnant.

Wages and Hours:

Female workers have the right to earn at least the federal minimum wage. They also have the right to earn one-and-a-half times normal hourly wage for every hour worked over forty in one week. These conditions are the same for documented and undocumented workers alike. Immigration status should not be an issue when attempting to enforce these rights.

Other Rights:

A woman has the right to speak a language other than English at work, unless speaking English is necessary to conduct business. She also has the right to enforce all her employee rights. An employer who retaliates or punishes her because she does so faces additional penalties.

Maternity Rights

A pregnant woman is entitled to maternity benefits from her employer, provided she is employed under a continuous contract. That requires employment of over 18 hours per week. The maternity benefits include:

Maternity leave

Provisions of the labour code:

In section 46 of the labour law 2006 have been created for maternity leave of 16 weeks (8 weeks before and 8 weeks after the delivery). But the law also makes a provision that no worker shall be entitled to receive the benefit unless she has served under the owner for a minimum period of six months prior to the notice of the probability of the delivery.

Provisions of the previous labour laws:

Section 3 of the Maternity Benefits Act, 1939 provides maternity leave of 12 weeks (6 weeks before and 6 weeks after the delivery).

Changes in present law:

The new law increases the maternity leaves to sixteen weeks from twelve weeks and decreases the duration of the qualifying service period – for availing the benefit – to six months from 9 months.

Also, no maternity benefit shall be payable to any woman if at the time of her confinement she has two or more surviving children

Procedure Of Payment Of The Maternity Benefit

Provisions of The New Labour Code:

Three options are open to the mothers as per section 47 of the new labour law:

1. The owner shall pay the total benefits payable for the preceding 8 weeks within 3 days from the submission of the certificate of the probability of delivery (childbirth) by a Registered Physician and shall pay the remaining amount after three working days of the submission of the proof-of-delivery.

2. The owner shall pay the benefits payable for the preceding 8 weeks including the day of the delivery within 3 days from the submission of the proof of delivery and pay the remaining within the next eight weeks after the proof of delivery is submitted

3. The owner shall pay all the benefits payable within 3 days from the submission of the proof-of-delivery to the owner.

Provisions of the Previous Labour Laws

Previously the procedure was guided by the Section 5 of Maternity Benefits Act. 1939. The aforesaid Act provided more stringent payment procedure as there was the provision of payment within 48 hours after the certificate from any physician was submitted, whether there remains any working day or not.

Changes in the present law

Changes have been made in favor of the management, as the management is required to pay the benefit within three working days. As per the earlier law, it was binding upon the management to pay the benefit within 48 hours only.

Amount of the Maternity Benefits

Provisions Of The New Labour Code

As per sections 48 of the new labour code there is a provision of the payment in terms of daily, weekly or monthly, as and where applicable, average wages. The section also provides the formulae for the calculation of the aforesaid average wages as follows:

Daily Average Wages (DAW) or Weekly Average Wages (WAW) or Monthly Average Wages(MAW) = The total amount received by the worker during the immediate preceding three months / Total actual working days during that period. Changes brought by the new law: No change has been made.

Benefits In Case Of The Death Of Mother

Provisions Of The New Labour Code

The person nominated by the mother who died, or in the case where no such person is nominated, her legal representative, shall be entitled to receive the benefits as described above.

Discrimination

Many mothers returning to work also face the risk of discrimination against them by their employers. This may be for many reasons such as resentment at the claiming of maternity benefits, a perceived reduction in commitment or flexibility, or a preference for a temporary replacement who performed the job while the employee was on maternity leave.

However, no matter what the reason the law provides protection against discrimination on the grounds of sex, pregnancy and family status. Employers are not entitled to discriminate against employees on the grounds of their pregnancy or sex or family status or treat them less favourably than the employer would treat someone who was not in the same position. Forms of discrimination include termination, other detriment and the denial of opportunities which would have been available but for the discrimination, as well as direct discrimination where the employer deliberately places an employee at a disadvantage because of their sex, or pregnancy. The law also prohibits indirect discrimination.

Therefore if an employer, for example, treats the part-time employees less favourably, this may have the indirect effect of discriminating against women and mothers if the majority of part–time workers are in that category.

On returning to work, she suspected her employers wished to terminate her employment and she enquired as to their intentions. After a short period they made allegations of poor performance and terminated her employment. The Court reviewed the evidence and decided that one of the reasons for the dismissal was discrimination on the grounds of her pregnancy, sex and family status.

Mothers returning to work should be aware that discrimination on the grounds of their position and status as mothers or by reason of them having taken maternity leave, is unlawful. The discrimination can also be indirect and unintentional. Nevertheless such conduct by the employer will be unlawful if it places employees in that protected category in a less favorable position than the one they would have been in but for their sex or status.

Day Care Service

The service is known as child care in the United Kingdom and Australia and day care in North America.

Day care is provided in nurseries or crèches or by a nanny caring for children in their own homes. It can also take on a more formal structure, with education, child development, discipline and even preschool education falling into the fold of services.

Some child minders care for children from several families at the same time, either in their own home or in a specialized child care facility. Some employers provide nursery provision for their employees at or near the place of employment. Child care in the child’s own home is traditionally provided by a nanny or au pair, or by extended family members including grandparents, aunts and uncles.

The day care industry is a continuum from personal parental care to large, regulated institutions. The vast majority of childcare is still performed by the parents, in house nanny or through informal arrangements with relatives, neighbors or friends.

Another factor favoring large corporate day cares is the existence of childcare facilities in the workplace. Large corporations will not handle this employee benefits directly themselves and will seek out large corporate providers to manage their corporate daycares. Most smaller, for-profit day cares operate out of a single location.

In general, the geographic limitations and the diversity in type of daycare providers make child daycare a highly fragmented industry. The largest providers own only a very small share of the market. This leads to frustration for parents who are attempting to find quality child daycare, with 87% of them describing the traditional search for child daycare as “difficult and frustrating.

Non-Profit Daycare

Considerable research has accumulated showing that not-for-profits are much more likely to produce the high quality environments in which children thrive.

Non-profit day cares have some structural advantages over for-profit operations:
- They may receive preferential treatment in rents especially if they are affiliated with a church that is otherwise unoccupied during the week, or with a school that has surplus space.
- Location within a school may further bring the advantage of coordinated programs with the school and the advantage of a single location for parents who have older school-age children as well.
- Parents are typically the legal owners of the non-profit day care and will routinely provide consulting services for free.
- Non-profits have an advantage in fund-raising as most people will not donate to a for-profit organization.
- Non-profits, however, are typically limited in size to a single location as the parent-owners have no motivation to manage other locations where their children are not present.
- They may suffer from succession issues as children grow and parents leave the management of the day care to others.

Local governments, often municipalities, may operate non-profit day care centers. In non-profits, the title of the most senior supervisor is typically executive director, following the convention of most non-profit organizations.

For-Profit Daycare

Family day cares can be operated by a single individual out of their home. There may be occasions when more than one individual cares for children in a family childcare home. This can be a stay-at-home parent who seeks supplemental income while caring for their own child. There are also many family childcare providers who have chosen this field as a profession. Local legislation will regulate the number and ages of children allowed per family child care home. Some localities have very stringent quality standards that require licensure for family child care homes while others require little or no regulations for childcare in individual’s homes. Some home day cares operate illegally with respect to tax legislation where the care provider does not report fees as income and the parent does not receive a receipt to qualify for childcare tax deductions. Family childcare may be less expensive than center based care because of the lower overhead in family childcare. Many family childcare providers may be certified with the same credentials as center based staff.

Children And development stages

Children

Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of child generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority. Child may also describe a relationship with a parent or authority figure, or signify group membership in a clan, tribe, or religion. It can also signify being strongly affected by a specific time, place, or circumstance, as in a child of nature or a child of the Sixties.

Children are the plural term of Child.

Child development refers to the biological and psychological changes that occur in human beings between birth and the end of adolescence, as the individual progresses from dependency to increasing autonomy. Because these developmental changes may be strongly influenced by genetic factors and events during prenatal life, genetics and prenatal development are usually included as part of the study of child development. Related terms include developmental psychology, referring to development throughout the lifespan, and pediatrics, the branch of medicine relating to the care of children. Developmental change may occur as a result of genetically-controlled processes known as maturation, or as a result of environmental factors and learning, but most commonly involves an interaction between the two, it may also occur as a result of human nature and our ability to learn from our environment. Human beings have a keen sense to adapt to their surroundings and this is what child development encompasses.

Supervision of Children:

The child day care center must have an available staff member who will promote the physical, intellectual, social, cultural, and emotional well-being of the children. The staff member responsible for the care of the children must be closely supervised by the child day care center. Assignments and workloads must provide consistency of care to children and must allow staff members to fulfill their respective responsibilities.

The director must be on-site during the hours of operations and a designated person must be assigned to perform the duties of the director in case of absence. Children in a child day care center must not be left without the competent direct supervision at any time.

When a child day care center is in operation, adequate staff members must be on duty to ensure the health and safety of the children. The minimum ratios of staff to children are as follows:

Age of children	Staff/child maximum ratio	Group size
under 6 weeks	1:3	6
6 weeks to 18 months	1:4	8
18 months to 36 months	1:5	12
3 years	1:7	18
4 years	1:8	21
5 years	1:9	24
Minimum Staff/Child Ratios Based on Group Size for School-aged Children:
through 9 years	1:10	20
10-12 years	1:15	30

The child day care center must release a child only to his or her parent, a person currently designated in writing by the parent, or another person authorized by law to take custody of the child. A child cannot be released unsupervised from a child day care center except upon the written instruction of the child’s parent. The instruction must be accepted by the child day care center and must take into consideration the child’s age and maturity, proximity of the house to the center, and the safety of the neighborhood.

Surveillance cameras cannot be used as a substitute for direct supervision of the children.

Normal Stages of Human Development (Birth to 5 Years)

This page presents an overview of child development from birth to five years of age. It is important to keep in mind that the time frames presented are averages and some children may achieve various developmental milestones earlier or later than the average but still be within the normal range. This information is presented to help parents understand what to expect from their child. Any questions you may have about your child’s development should be shared with his or her doctor.

Time	Physical and Language	Emotional	Emotional
Birth to 1 month	Feedings: 5-8 per day Sleep: 20 hrs per day Sensory Capacities: makes basic distinctions in vision, hearing, smelling, tasting, touch, temperature, and perception of pain	Generalized Tension	Helpless Asocial Fed by mother
2 months to 3 months	Sensory Capacities: color perception, visual exploration, oral exploration. Sounds: cries, coos, grunts Motor Ability: control of eye muscles, lifts head when on stomach. Delight	Distress	Smiles at a Face Visually fixates at a face, smiles at a face, may be soothed by rocking.
4 months to 6 months	Sensory Capacities: localizes sounds Sounds: babbling, makes most vowels and about half of the consonants Feedings: 3-5 per day Motor Ability: control of head and arm movements, purposive grasping, rolls over.	Enjoys being cuddled	Recognizes his mother. Distinguishes between familiar persons and strangers, no longer smiles indiscriminately. Expects feeding, dressing, and bathing.
7 months to 9 months	Motor Ability: control of trunk and hands, sits without support, crawls about.	Specific emotional attachment to mother.	Protests separation from mother. Enjoys peek-a-boo
10 months to 12 months	Motor Ability: control of legs and feet, stands, creeps, apposition of thumb and fore-finger. Language: says one or two words, imitates sounds, responds to simple commands. Feedings: 3 meals, 2 snacks Sleep: 12 hours, 2 naps Anger	Affection Fear of strangers Curiosity, exploration	Responsive to own name. Wave bye-bye. Plays pat-a-cake, understands “no-no!” Gives and takes objects.
1 years to 1 ½ years	Motor Ability: creeps up stairs, walks (10-20 min), makes lines on paper with crayon. Dependent Behavior	Very upset when separated from mother Fear of Bath	Obeys limited commands. Repeats a few words. Interested in his mirror image. Feeds himself.
2 years to 3 years	Motor Ability: jumps off a step, rides a tricycle, uses crayons, builds a 9-10 cube tower. Language: starts to use short sentences controls and explores world with language, stuttering may appear briefly. Fear of separation	Temper tantrums (1-3yrs)	Resentment of new baby Does opposite of what he is told (18 months).
3 years to 4 years	Motor Ability: Stands on one leg, jumps up and down, draws a circle and a cross (4 yrs)	Self-sufficient in many routines of home life. Affectionate toward parents. Pleasure in genital manipulation Romantic attachment to parent of opposite sex (3 to 5 yrs) Jealousy of same-sex parent. Imaginary fears of dark, injury, etc. (3 to 5 years)	Talks, uses “I” “me” “you” Copies parents’ actions. Dependent, clinging, possessive about toys, enjoys playing alongside another child. Negativism (2 ½ yrs). Resists parental demands. Gives orders. Rigid insistence on sameness of routine. Inability to make decisions.
4 years to 5 years	Motor ability: mature motor control, skips, broad jumps, dresses himself, copies a square and a triangle. Language: talks clearly, uses adult speech sounds, has mastered basic grammar, relates a story, knows over 2,000 words (5 yrs)	Responsibility and guilt Feels pride in accomplishment

Caring for the Children

The playground shall be a fenced-in area. Drive around and look at the playground equipment in the play yards of the public schools and at the day care centers in your area. You should have the basic sandboxes, swings, slides and jungle gyms but in this area you can be creative and original, provided your equipment meets safety standards.

Some states require that parents have a registered nurse on the premises, but generally, the main things needed are medical information from the parents and a written procedure to follow in case of accident or illness. Basically, when a child is injured or becomes ill, parents should take him to the nearest medical center, while another staff person gets in touch with the parents, and explains what happened. If the parent cannot be present at the medical center, all information should be passed on to him immediately it is available.

Demand of Child Care

Many experts expect the demand to increase through the turn of the century, and the popularity of this type of business to continue growing from there. They base their forecasts on the fact that more and more young parents have happy memories of the time they spent in day care centers, and the learning experiences they enjoyed. And again, there is the continuing need or desire of young mothers to work outside the home.

Profitable day care centers are much more than glorified baby-sitting services. Social researchers have found that the most important years in a child’s development are those from one to six. Thus, the exposure to the world in which he lives, the instruction he receives, and the habits he forms during those years, definitely affect his ability to learn and properly adjust as he progresses on through his years of formal education.

For mothers of today, usually better educated than their mothers are more aware of these factors and wanting the best for their children, are demanding the structured pre-school education and learning stimulation offered by modern day care centers. This is an honest desire of the mothers of pre-school age children, even those who aren’t forced to work outside the home.

Another thing in your favor: Even though there seems to be a trend for many large companies to finance and operate day care centers for their employees in or close by their factories or office buildings, studies show that most working parents prefer to leave their children closer to home than where they work. Thus, privately operated day care centers in residential neighborhood areas should not be worried too much about competition from the few company operated day care centers.

Challenges facing the children of Bangladesh

Protection

Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child-marriage in the world. 66 per cent of women (aged 20 to 24) were married before they turned 18.
13 per cent of children are involved in child labour. Child labourers are frequently denied an education and are vulnerable to violence and abuse.
Bangladesh has one of the lowest rates of birth registration in the world. This makes it difficult to protect children from trafficking, child labour and child marriage.

Education

Only 80 per cent of students enrolled in grade one complete primary school.
While many parents do play with their youngest children, they have little or no understanding of how play and other informal learning helps prepare children for school.
High drop-out rates and poor quality teaching and learning are serious problems for primary schools.
Only 46 per cent of boys and 53 per cent of girls attend secondary school.

Health and nutrition

Neonatal death and maternal mortality rates remain high, primarily because most deliveries take place at home without access to proper medical care.
Health facilities lack qualified staff and suffer from shortages of supplies.
Under-nutrition contributes to child mortality. 22 per cent of infants are born with low birth weight. Up to 46 per cent of children under-five are underweight.
Drowning and injury is the leading cause of death among children older than one year.
Major prevention efforts are needed to keep HIV prevalence rates low.

Water And Sanitation

Only 53 per cent of the population use improved sanitation facilities.
Only 80 per cent of the population has access to safe drinking water, primarily because of naturally occurring arsenic contamination of groundwater in some areas.
Safe hygiene practices, especially proper hand washing, remain a challenge in the fight against disease.

Emergencies And Conflict

Development is hampered by annual floods and other natural disasters, including cyclones and tornados. Bangladesh is also susceptible to earthquakes.
Avian influenza continues to threaten lives and livelihoods in Bangladesh.
Low-lying Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in south-eastern Bangladesh, where ethnic minorities make up half the population, have suffered a slower development rate than the national average, due primarily to a history of civil conflict and the difficult terrain.
The health and wellbeing of Rohingya refugee children, whose families fled from Myanmar to the south-eastern part of Bangladesh following internal conflict, remains a concern.

Day Care Center

The service is known as child care in the United Kingdom and Australia and day care in North America.

Day care is provided in nurseries or by a nanny caring for children in their own homes. It can also take on a more formal structure, with education, child development, discipline and even preschool education falling into the fold of services.

Day care center is a specific center or place from where above mentioned facilities can be found.

Day Care provides care for a person during the day. It is provided away from the person’s home and transport is usually arranged as part of the service.

The purpose of day care, as part of Community Care, is to help people remain living at home as an alternative to living in some form of residential or nursing home.

Day care offers benefits both to the people who receive it and to any careers who look after them. For people going to day care, it:

gives them the opportunity to mix and meet with others especially if they are isolated at home;
offers stimulation through social contact and activities;
gives them a meal and a bath; and
allows them to re-learn skills they may have lost through illness or disability or to learn new skills they need to cope with changing circumstances.

It offers carers a few hours break from caring for someone. This is sometimes called respite.

A typical day’s care might be:

9.30am Collected from home by taxi or minibus
10.30am Arrival at Day Centre, tea or coffee
11.00am Activities such as discussion, games, crafts, exercise, employment
12.00pm Lunch
1.00pm More activities
2.00pm Tea or coffee, prepare to leave
3.00pm Arrive home

Everyone going to day care will have a care plan produced by a social worker. This plan will describe what they will do at day care and what they should get out of it. The facilities and type of care provided in day centres vary. Through the care plan, the social worker will aim to ensure that the person goes to a day centre which can provide care to meet that their needs.

There are other kinds of day services and day care:

Luncheon clubs are social clubs rather than care centres. These are not run by Cumbria County Council. They are often run by voluntary organisations. Your social worker or Customer Services at your local Cumbria County Council Adult Social Care office can tell you more about these.
Employment schemes are run for people with learning disabilities and people with mental health problems. These offer employment opportunities to people who may otherwise have difficulties finding work.
Day care for children includes family centres, childminders and playgroups.

Who are entitled to get Day Care Facility:

Day care for adults is for people aged 16 and over including:

older people (over 65);
older people who are mentally frail (over 65);
people with mental health problems (16 – 65);
people with learning disabilities (16 – 65);
people with physical disabilities (16 – 65);
people with visual impairments (16 and over); and
people with hearing impairments (16 and over).

Development of day care centre

History:

Day care appeared in France about 1840, and the Société des Crèches was recognized by the French government in 1869. Originating in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th century, day cares were established in the United States by private charities in the 1850s, the first being the New York Day Nursery in 1854.

There is a worldwide view of development of daycare service, as follows according to year;

April 1981:

Incorporated in California as Siloam Christian Mission, Glendale, California.
First mission field: Tamil Nadu, India (in cooperation with Siloam Lepers and Blind Mission, Germany)
July 1981:
Production of a one-hour TV special on Leprosy and eye disease in India.
1982:
Start of a food delivery program from a warehouse in San Diego, California to the border towns of Mexico
1983:
Start of an affiliate in Haiti. First ministry included a welding school in Port-au-Prince.
1983:
Start of an affiliate in Langley, B.C. Canada.
1984:
Start of an affiliate in Kenya. Production of a one-hour TV special on the “Drought of the Century.”
1985:
Start of the breakfast feeding program in Comas, Peru. The first 500 children were selected from the extremely poor people who fled the guerilla group “Shining Path” in the highlands of Peru.
1985:
Change of name to Siloam International.
1986:
Start of an affiliate in Uganda. The Uganda government assigns the Ssese Islands to Childcare International, Uganda.
1990:
Start of partnership in Sri Lanka with an outreach to families of fishing villages outside Colombo.
1992:
Start of partnership in Belarus to help victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
1996:
Start of partnership in Thailand with the Khon Kaen Christian School.
1996:
Start of Partnership with Faith Tabernacle in Cebu, Philippines.
1988:
Move of office to Bellingham, Washington.
1988:
Change of name to Childcare International.
2006:
Change of name to Childcare Worldwide[2]

In today’s Bangladeshi society many poor working mothers are raising their children as single parents. All of them have to work to survive. With Phulki’s help, for the first time ever, these women are realizing that they can play an active role in ensuring their own health and well-being, as well as, that of their families. In this changing society, Phulki has worked relentlessly, to fulfil the rights of the disadvantaged through its projects. Phulki provides complete childcare program from children aged 6 weeks to 5 years prior to their enrolment in primary schools.

Meeting with caregivers

In response to this need, Phulki has created a series of factory-based childcare centers or crèche facilities for children between the ages of 6 weeks and 2 years. Each unit can accommodate up to 20 children and has certified caregivers. Mothers typically drop off their children after arriving at the workplace and collect them at the end of the day work. These centres give lactating mothers access to their infants during working hours. These centers are created in consultation with factory owners and working mother. In almost all cases, this idea has been received with great enthusiasm by both mothers and factory owners, and given many advantages of on-site child care centers, including increased productivity from happier workers, factory owners have been in compliance with the Factory Act of 1965.
Phulki’s role in the establishment and support for these centres is one which takes into account their long term sustainability. Typically, Phulki establishes these centers, provides start-up support, and operates them for one month. The employer/factory owners bear all expenses for running these centers. The mothers bring food and pay a fee according to the number of children they are bringing to these centers (no less than Tk. 50). This requirement ensures that the mothers develop a sense of ownership and have a legitimate voice in the decision making processes.[3]

Community Based Childcare and Development Centers

Traditionally in Bangladesh child care responsibilities fall on the extended family. These family structures are slowly changing and with new social mobility women are increasingly moving away from their families. This is resulting in increased burdens for women, in terms of childcare.

Phulki has established childcare centres in the locality where many such low income working mothers reside. Women’s growing entry into the job market is increasing the suffering faced by their children due to neglect and separation anxiety. This vulnerable leaves drive them to a higher risk of accident. Phulki is running 31 childcare centers in different place of Dhaka City, such as- Bauniabadh, Bhashantek, Shaymoli, kollyanpur, Citypolli, Mohammadpur, Shekhertake, Beribadh with the help of Plan Bangladesh and Action.

Children from two years to five years are eligible for care in the childcare centers where one caregiver taking cares at least 20 children from 8.00am to 5.00 pm 6 days in a week and we recruit caregivers from the community.

In the centers the children are given the opportunity to engage in developmental activities and play, regular health cheek up, growth monitoring and immunization of the children will be monitored bimonthly. Phulki’s monitoring officers arrange monthly meeting with parents/Community Development Forum.

A basic promise of this project is to bring a fundamental change in running of childcare centre where parents can also take the leading role. From the beginning Phulki is trying to make committee with parents to ensure the quality of the centers and now we are near about to our target; for instance last year parent’s contribution increased 62% where our target was maximum 50% of the total cost of day care centre.

Phulki expect that w omen’s participation will increase in job market due to childcare service. Women’s status in family as well as in society will be improved due to economic independence. Besides this condition of child rearing, children’s education, family health, environment, etc will be improved and a sustainable mechanism will be developed in transitioning the children from their early age to primary school.

Shishu Bikash Kendra

With the hope to make the children ready for school in a child friendly environment Phulki is operating Shishu Bikash Kendra (SBK) for the community children who are in between 3-5 years. Phulki has jointly worked with Plan Bangladesh and gathered experience on SBK. On the basis of this experience Phulki make plane to operate 77 SBKs in 2009 to face the continuous increasing demand in the community for SBK.

Advocacy on Workplace Based Childcare Centre And Outreach Program

Phulki, a rights based organization, has been working relentlessly for the rights of women and children for the past 18 years. Phulki realizes that its goal of ensuring workplace based childcare cannot be achieved without the participation of the community, businesses and the government. The advocacy and outreach program ensures that early childhood development is an internationally recognized child rights. It is important for the continuity and success of Phulki’s work that international buying companies, establishing factories in Bangladesh, understand the importance of on-site childcare facilities and bring their vendors under compliance. Phulki has been in constant consultation with multi-national buying companies. These companies are made aware of the factory law requiring childcare and urged to set a precondition that goods bought from Bangladeshi vendors have on-site childcare facilities. As a result several prominent international buyers have brought their overseas vendors under compliance of the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 (amendment). This is a significant achievement as this will benefit not only Bangladeshi workers but also women working in similar sectors in other countries.

Phulki’s hands on approach and focus on sustainability has drawn praises from factory owners and policy makers alike. Due to these activities, there is increased awareness from middle and higher income women employed in other sectors, such as banks and hospitals, as well as increased interest from these institutions to highlight on-site childcare services under their social corporate responsibility related activities. Currently, Phulki is working with financial institutions, hospitals, NGOs and government organizations to expand the reach of childcare centres beyond the garments sector.[4]

Present Status in Bangladesh

The child day care is not a new oriented matter in Bangladesh. It has a respective development background in our society. Both of the Governmental and non Governmental sectors took initiative for establishing the Child Day Care center in Bangladesh.

Government Initiative:

The People’s Republic of Bangladesh is a democratic based political country. the government has taken some initiative for child day care services for the children of working women.

A news report is given below

Child day care centre’s object is Unsuccessful: A report of Bangladesh Protidin dated 1^st march, 2011 by zinnatun nur.

The implementation of the child day care centre project, governed by Government, for the children of working women can’t be successful. At present, only 24 day care centers are in operation among the 42 day care centers established for the poor and middle class families. Rest of 18 are stopped for the various reasons.

Basically these day care centers were established for providing caring facilities during day time to the children of working women. These facilities were provided, for the working women intended to flexibility in working in own office. It is founded that in most of the day care centers, the numbers of child are less than the seat limit. But, government bears losses in this project for the maintenance of such day care centers.

It is informed from the information of Department of Women, 12 day care centers among the active day care centers are for lower class working women, 6 day care centers are for middle class working women and 6 for the combined lower and middle class working women. Among these, in Dhaka, 20 Babies are in the center of Department of Women, 20 babies are in AGB Day care center, 35 babies in Khilgaon Day Care center, 40 babies are in Secretariat Day Care centers, 26 babies are in Azimpur Day Care Centers and 25 babies are in Mirpur Day care Centers.

The in charge of Day care center of Department of Women named Shirajum Munira says, still such mentality of working mothers towards admission in Day Care centers are not developed. For this reason, only for a nominal fees the service, like a mother, has been provided but babies have admitted less than that ratio.

The object of this project is providing care for the babies of working women (6 months to 6 years) of lower and middle class working women. In these centers, ideal foods, EPI providing, Pre schooling, Indoor and outdoor games and entertainment facilities are provided from 8 AM to 5.30 PM for fees of 30 to 300 taka per month.

The Project Director named Mainul Haque says, only for lack of advertisement, this project does not watch the light of success.[5]

In Bangladesh private organizations or NGO are more active than Governmental organization. As same also in this matter of child day care, private sectors are more active than governmental initiatives. It is true that government took the initiatives for betterment of the people but for having some limitations and barriers government cannot be successful on their projects.

It is also true that, government arranges lots of formalities to implement their projects which kill the time. But there is no certain day long formality in private sectors.

There are Some Non governmental Initiatives on Regard of Child Day Care Service:

Don Bosco School: Don Bosco School provides child day care service for the students of that school and the babies of female teaching faculty of same school. Although this initiative is not so renowned but it definitely better for the babies as well as female employees.

No outer babies are allowed here for caring. But this service is charged.

SOS: SOS opened their first community in Dhaka in 1973 and SOS Youth Home has been established, where the child days care service is provided.

Singapore International School:Singapore International School is a renowned English medium school in Uttara. They provide day care for their student only for the time after completion of classes to at 5 p.m. It is not charged but here also, outer is not allowed.

Functions of Standard Day Care Services

These resources include educational services and child care centers which can take on different forms, depending on the area in which they are provided, the funds invested in them, and the entities responsible for the resources. But regardless of their form, today’s child care centers seem to have specific functions which existed in the savannah thousands of years ago.

1. Educational Function

Children who go to good child care centres acquire knowledge and skills they will need to survive, develop and grow in the present and into the future. This educational function prepares children for school. Through play and interactions with others, it lays the foundations for their learning, integration with the group, scholastic success, and eventually, their full participation in community life. Only those who belong to and identify with the group can develop and achieve.

2. Practical Function

Day care centers also serve by looking after children while their parents or tutors are not around. Thus, they must adapt, to a certain extent, to the practical requirements of families and the community in terms of their proximity, flexible schedules, affordability, accessibility, diversification, and the like.

3. Social and Cultural Function

Day care centers are a venue for the transmission of social and cultural values. The centers continue and complement values taught in the home. They are the places where children are exposed to and influenced by others’ values, where children consolidate their value system, acquire their own visions of the world, learn to socialize and function as part of a group.

4. Democratic and Civic Function

Because child care centers take in all children, regardless of gender, ethnic origin, religion, abilities, family composition or financial situation, they serve an important democratic and civic function – a function in which equal opportunity and justice for all are daily realities, where being part of the group is reflected in the activities carried out together and with shared objectives, and where the search for the common good takes individual well-being into account.[6]

Having your child in a quality daycare program can be comforting and essential for working parents. But even the best daycare arrangements have disadvantages.

For example, you are bound by the hours of the daycare facility and the holidays on which it closes. A late pick-up can be costly and the center’s proximity to work or home can be a logistical challenge. And there are other challenges to be considered by anyone looking to place a child in daycare.

5. Fast-Spreading Illness

Your child may never have picked up a cold or ear infection in his young life, but a week into daycare and your whole family may be battling fevers and runny noses, or worse.

Viral upper respiratory and gastrointestinal infections are the two most common illnesses that occur in children enrolled in daycare, and that secondary attack rates within families can be as high as 27 percent for respiratory illnesses and 70 percent for gastroenteritis, according to the report from Children’s Hospital Boston, which is affiliated with Harvard. The report also noted the value of frequent and thorough hand washing with antibacterial soap as a means of reducing the spread of illness in the home.[7]

6. Different Rules

You and your child may have worked out a “time out” or reward system that seems to change inappropriate behavior to better behavior. But in a room with a dozen or more toddlers or pre-schoolers, teachers aren’t likely to have the time or opportunity to work through all those issues with every child, every day. That’s why it’s vital that parents and teachers discuss or perhaps compromise on rules and discipline issues to provide the child with some consistency between daycare and home.

7. Unhealthy Influences

When it’s your child’s turn for snack day, you might try to do the right thing and bring in healthy fruit or maybe cheese and crackers. But the next day, another parent could be packing junk food. Likewise, words you never utter at home can come bounding out of the mouths of babes who hear them from their “classmates.” Before enrolling your child in a particular daycare center, visit it and try to get a sense whether this particular program reflects your values and priorities.

8. Guilt

Of course, the biggest concern with daycare is probably guilt. Handing over your child to someone else, even for just part of the day, can be troubling for most parents. It’s especially so when researchers determine that daycare can lead to a weaker bond between mother and child, particular in the infant and toddler stage. The effect is small, however, and may not cause meaningful differences in such relationships.[8] And the study did note that mothers who made extra efforts to be sensitive to their child’s emotional needs could help compensate for the daycare effect.

Child Day Care: Bangladesh And Existing Law

BANGLADESH

The enthusiasm with which the convention of the rights of the child was received in Bangladesh quickly dissipated as difficulties in implementation arose. It is recognized both by the government and civil society that countless children in Bangladesh are routinely denied their basic human rights. However the scope of the problem is such that for too many children the promises of the convention remain hollow. Millions of children still receive no education, work long hours under hazardous conditions, or languish in inhumane conditions in institutions. Others live in slums or squatters’ camps without proper hygiene or sanitation.

It remains for organizations like Phulki to come forward and tackle some of these problems. If we are to have a healthy and intelligent population, special attention must be paid to the physical and mental well being of the young. To do nothing is to condone this blot on our national consciousness. In trying to provide the right atmosphere for the psycho-social development of both women and children Phulki has begun to process brining a quality of life that will have a lasting effect for those touched by our work.

DHAKA

The capital city of Bangladesh receives more than a million rural migrants a year! Most are forced to live in the many slums that have grown up in most unsanitary conditions. Often all members of a migrant’s family have to work for sheer survival. Mothers who traditionally stayed at home to care for their children must now work either in garment factories, as brick chippers on building sites or in domestic service. Under these conditions infants and children are left in the care of their older siblings at the expense of their own welfare and schooling. They thus loose their childhood. In some situations young children are completely neglected and left to live off the streets. In all such cases, the children of the poor are faced with extreme sufferings. Some poor working mothers have to raise their children as single parents yet have to work to survive. However with Phulki’s help, for the first time these women realize they do have the ability, capacity and the right, to lift themselves out of their predicament.

WOMEN
In 1997 the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report found that out of 175 countries, Bangladeshi standards of women’s employment, management and leadership positions, left them way below average in 144th place.

Much of the struggle for women’s empowerment stems from rural patriarchy and the discrepancy between statute and practice in the towns. Cultural and religious taboos on male and female interaction have been the greatest obstacle to women’s ability to move away from gender stereotyping and stigmatized rules. Although in moving to the city to work women are breaking many of these taboos once they arrive in Dhaka and other industrial centers they face new barriers to their welfare. Laws that regulate women’s working hours and conditions are not always accurately implemented. Also they often do not take account of the religious personal law systems which enhance existing vulnerabilities in the legal system and affect and victimize the personal lives of the citizens, especially women.

It is through work that women may lift themselves and their children out of poverty. The government of Bangladesh has realized that women’s income is beneficial in upgrading the lifestyle of the lower and middle class households. At the same time Export-orientated industries have provided a means of work for many poor women. In increasing the working opportunities for women the garment industries have brought women out of the home. These women are therefore spearheading a social revolution by changing the way women are viewed in Bangladesh.

Nevertheless in leaving their homes to work women face the problem of having to work to support their children yet being unable to support their children whilst they are at work. Rural female migrants are mostly illiterate and suffer from malnutrition and other diseases. They are mostly aged between 15 and 30 and have children that desperately need their support. With no-one to look after their children but desperately in need of work they must leave their children unattended inside their homes or exposed to horrendous conditions outside.

Phulki wants to ensure that women can work to better their lot without compromising the safety and happiness of their children. As women make up 80 per cent of the garment industry workforce it is here that the pioneering work of establishing day care has begun. By providing child-care, women’s access to employment will increase; the efficiency and skill of those already working will be improved and with peace of mind mothers will contribute a higher level of productivity. With the knowledge that their children’s mental and physical development is being nurtured safely there is less absenteeism and a stronger, more motivated workforce. Phulki is therefore creating a system that is highly profitable for the employer, employee and dependent children. It is therefore a system which can be sustained well into the future; a win win situation.

Existing Laws that relate to women and children

The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929: Provides punishment for a male adult marrying a child below 16 years of

age. It also prescribes punishment for parents and guardians who play a part in child marriages.

The Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act 1933: Provides for the punishment of forcing a girl under 18 years into prostitution. Abatement by one having custody or charge of the girl is also a crime.

The Children (Pledging of Labor) Act 1933: It was made an offence to pledge a child into labor or employ a child whose labor has been pledged.
The Employment of Children Act 1938: Regulates the employment of children in specified industries and occupations and provides for punishment of the employer contravening the provisions of the Act

The Maternity Benefit Act 1939: Regulates the employment of women for certain periods before and after childbirth and provides for the payment of maternity benefit to them by the employer.
The Maternity Benefit (Tea Estate) Act 1950: Prohibits the employment of women in tea gardens or processing factories for a certain period before and after childbirth with payment of maternity benefits for the period.

The Minimum Wages Ordinance 1961: Set a minimum rate for juvenile (under 18) workers and provides for punishment and contravention.

The 1965 factory’s act obliged the management to provide childcare if the factory employees more than fifty (50) women. Practices to the contrary are punishable by law (Act No-iv, 1965).
The Children’s Act 1974: Provides for the custody, protection and treatment of children and the punishment of young offenders by juvenile courts. It also deals with care and protection of destitute and neglected children. It provides, among other safeguards, for the punishment of special offences such as cruelty to children, employment of children for begging and exploitation of child employees.
1992, the Government of Bangladesh made the Dhaka Declaration for the promotion and protection of breast-feeding practice.
In 1994, the Government of Bangladesh agreed to support environment includes provision of child care and creche facilities at the work place.
In addition to these formal laws, there are a number of personal and religious laws, which mainly relate to social customs such as marriage, divorce, guardianship, adoption and inheritance, according to religious prescriptions.

In 1995, the Government of Bangladesh has decided to make it mandatory to provide onsite childcare facilities where at least 20 women work who have children below 5 years of age.

Existing Laws and Acts that relate to the Ready Made Garments (RGM) Industries

Hand book/service book: Every Worker has to have Hand book which contains the rules and regulation of factory.

Personal files (application, photo, age certificate, appointment letter): When a new worker joins for his/her a personal file has to be made which contains an application with bio-data, two copies photographs, age certificate or educational certificate as well as S. S. C. Certificate or Testimonial in where date of birth is included for age verification, and an appointment letter as document of her recruitment.

Maternity benefit register (Form-A, Form-B, Form-C, Form-D, Form-E, rules 3, 4, 9, 11 of “The Maternity Benefits Rules, 1953”): Any pregnant worker whose job duration has been 9 months she will get maternity leave and benefits. As maternity leave she will get 12 weeks leave and wages for this leave period.

Child crèche with proper decoration (The Factories Act, 1965; The Factories Rules, 1979): In a factory if female workers are 50 and more in number child crèche facilities must be provided with an attached wash room. In crèche space requirement for each child is 20 sq. feet.

Ventilation and temperature (The Factories Act, 1965; The Factories Rules, 1979): Due to huge machines and more people factory’s floor is found intensified with high temperature. To minimize temperature through factory’s floor adequate ventilation measures have to be taken such as for fresh air circulation windows must be opened in the working period. Exhaust fan must be installed if necessary.

Lighting (The Factories Act, 1965): Adequate lights have to be installed with the compliance of buyers requirement.

Drinking water (The Factories Act, 1965; The Factories Rules, 1979): Pure drinking water has to be supplied for workers as if for each worker 1 gallon pure water is allotted.

Latrines and urinals (The Factories Rules, 1979): Where females are employed, there shall be at least one latrine for every 25females. Where males are employed, there shall be at least one latrine for every 25 males. Provided that, where the number of male employees exceeds 100, and one latrine for every 50 thereafter.

Fire extinguishers (The Factories Act, 1965; The Factories Rules, 1979): To blow out fire extinguisher is an important equipment. Two types of extinguishers are available such as Co2 and ABC dry powder. The proportion of Co2 and ABC dry powder is 1:2 and for each 1000 sq feet space one extinguisher is required.

Fire fighting equipments (hose pipe, gas mask, bucket, blanket etc.) (The Factories Act, 1965; The Factories Rules, 1979) : Required hose pipe must be covered 835 meter area on the factory floor. For any factory minimum 10 gas masks have to be remained. In every factory there shall be provided and maintained two fire buckets of not less than two gallon capacity each for every 1000 sq. ft. of floor area subject to a minimum of four such buckets on each floor. At all time these buckets has to be kept full of water; apart from this may be full of sand if as required.

Fire evacuation plan (The Factories Act, 1965; The Factories Rules, 1979): Evacuation plan is an important tool for fire escaping. For each section an evacuation plan should be posted in where arrow marking is drawn clearly by which workers easily realize if remain firing incident whose route she/he use to for escaping.

Yellow marking on the floor (The Factories Rules, 1979): On the floor under fire fighting equipment and first aid boxes are marked with yellow diagonal line. Aisles are clearly marked on floor with arrow symbol.

Aisles free from obstacle (The Factories Rules, 1979): All time aisles should be free from cartoon, machine, and other materials.

Fire alarm, smoke detector (The Factories Rules, 1979): Fire alarm must be installed on the floor as if workers may press its button when fire incident would be occurred.

First aid box (according to the list of “The Factories Rules, 1979”): For 50 workers first aid box should be installed and each box must be properly equipped.

Dining facilities (The Factories Rules, 1979): The dining hall shall accommodate at least 30 percent of the workers working at a time. Provided that, in any particular class of factories, the Chief Inspector may, by an order in writing in this behalf, alter percentage of workers to be accommodated. The area in dining hall shall be not less than 10 sq. ft. per worker to be accommodated.

Discharge (The Employment of Labour (Standing Orders) Act, 1965): Workers may be discharged from service for reasons of physical or mental incapacity or continued ill-health or such other reasons not amounting to misconduct.

Dismissal (The Employment of Labour (Standing Orders) Act, 1965): Dismissal means the termination of services of a worker by the employer for misconduct.

Termination (The Employment of Labour (Standing Orders) Act, 1965): Factory’s authority if desired may terminate a worker from his job which is regarded as termination. There is a condition here in case of termination either before 120 days he must send notice to him or if incapable to send notice he has to give wages for those days.

Standard of Day Care – Facility Provided

National standards should be agreed in the following areas

Space Requirements
Laundry
Food Preparation Facilities
Toilets and Hand Basins
Nappy change
Sleeping Facilities
Storage
Administrative Clerical Staff

1. Space Requirements

The physical environment affects the behavior and development of both children and adults. The quality of the physical space affects the level of child involvement and the type of interaction between staff and children. The amount, arrangement and use of space, both indoors and outdoors, convey important information about the quality of daily life.

The provision of adequate open play space is to

enable an environment to be created that fosters optimal growth and development through opportunities for exploration and learning
ensure the provision of an environment that is free from overcrowding to minimize the danger of accidents and health risks associated with cramped, confined places.

Agreed Standard

The indoor space requirements shall be 3.25 sq meters of unencumbered play space per child. When calculating this space, such items as any passage way or thoroughfare, kitchen, toilet or shower area are located in the building, or any other facility, such as cupboards are to be excluded.

The outdoor space requirement shall be 7 sq meters of useable play space per child. In inner city areas the outdoor space requirement may be less if the Minister is satisfied that a lesser requirement will not impact negatively on children using the area and where alternative sites are not available to meet the needs of the community.

Implementation

As a minimum, States and Territories will not require that existing services upgrade to the new standard. However, some States and Territories may require that the new standard applies to existing services. In all cases where a service is not required to upgrade to the new standard, a statement to this effect is to be written on the license and publicly displayed.

2. laundry

To maintain the health and well being of children and to minimise the risk of cross infection, all centers must have adequate and hygiene arrangements for the laundry requirements of the centre.

Agreed Standard

The centre shall have laundry arrangements either on the premises or through another facility, service or arrangement.

The centre shall

(a) Comply with the Building Code Of Australia F2.3 (C ii) – i.e. laundry facility comprising a washtub, and space in the same room for a washing machine or wash copper

(b) Provide sanitary facilities for the storage of soiled clothes, linen and nappies pending their laundering or disposal.

Implementation

3. Food Preparation Facilities

Children need adequate nutrition which includes a wide variety of foods. Children can learn about foods and meal expectations during the early childhood years. To ensure that the dietary needs of children are met, the centre shall have food storage and preparation facilities on the premises or through another facility, service or regular arrangement.

The extent to which the centre provides food preparation facilities is dependent on the practices of the service in relation to main meals. In centers where main meals are prepared on the premises full kitchen facilities will be required.

The national standards set a requirement for kitchen facilities, regardless of the meal preparation practices, as all services will have some requirement for food storage and heating, together with the cleaning of plates and other eating utensils. This is in conformity with the Building Code of Australia requirements.

Agreed Standard

The centre shall comply with the Building Code Of Australia F2.3 C. – i.e. one kitchen with facilities for the preparation and cooking of food for infants, including a kitchen sink and space for a refrigerator.

The centre shall have a stove/microwave, hot water supply, and refrigerator.

NOTE: Child care centers shall comply with State and Local Authority legislation. Some specific health regulations may require additional standards. e.g. SA requires a hand basin in the kitchen.

Implementation

4. Toilets and Hand Basins

Toilet facilities should be sufficient in number to

ensure the health and well being of children
ensure minimal delay for children requiring use of a toilet
enable independent access.

The provision of toilets and hand basins at a suitable hight for children is to

increase the confidence and skills of children
encourage hand washing after toileting
decrease cleaning and frequency with which staff must assist children onto the toilet, thus allowing more child contact time for developmental activities
decrease the necessity for lifting, thus recognizing occupational health had safety issues

Agreed Standard

As per the Building Code Of Australia F2.3 -9b. i.e. For every 15 children or part thereof there shall be

(a) a junior toilet, or adult toilet with a firm step and a junior seat

(b) one hand basin either with a firm step, or at a height so as to provide reasonable

child access

In addition for children under 3 years there shall be one potty for every 5 children or part thereof.

Implementation

5. Nappy Change

To maintain the health and safety of children who are not toilet trained the centre must have nappy change facilities that

are sufficient to meet the number of the children in the centre
are of a type that are easily cleaned to prevent cross infection
will minimize occupational health and safety implications for staff

Agreed Standard

Where children under the age of three years are cared for in a centre the following shall be provided

(a) a changing bench or amt with an impervious washable top for every 10 children or part thereof

(b) a sink type bath with hot and cold running water in or adjacent to the nappy change area.

Implementation

6. Sleeping Facilities

The provision of adequate bedding is necessary to ensure that children have access to a bed to ensure undisturbed sleep. The provision of individual bed linen and implementation of adequate hygienic measures are necessary to minimize the risk of cross infection.

The centre shall have sleeping facilities which enable a significant number of children to sleep/rest at any one time. The extent to which children sleep is dependent on their age. Infants sleep for longer periods of time and at more frequent intervals than do children who are older. Whilst the sleeping requirements of children who are three years and over are less than those of infants it must be assumed that all children under school age may wish to sleep during the course of a day at child care.

Agreed Standard

The centre shall have at least one bed or mattress for every two licensed places for children who are two years of age or older.

The centre shall have at least one cot or other age appropriate bedding for each licensed place for children under the age of two years.

The centre shall have individual bed linen and blankets for each child and a centre procedure that ensures that children do not share the same bed or bed linen prior to washing the bed linen.

The proprietor shall ensure that beds, cots, stretchers or mattresses are so arranged that there is easy access to each child and ease of exit is maintained.

7. Storage

To guard against the accidental poisoning of children through the consumption of harmful substances all goods that are not suitable for human consumption must be stored safely.

To ensure that children develop a sense of caring for their individual belongings and in acknowledgement of the right to individual space and privacy, it is necessary that children have access to a space for storage of their personal belongings. Failure to provide such space will lead to a sense of institutionalization.

On order to foster their independence children need to be able to access toys, books and equipment suitable to their developmental needs. Provision within children’s play areas of open storage and display units of a height suitable to children enables them to independently access equipment without the assistance of an adult.

Agreed Standard

The centre shall have storage facilities which are secure and inaccessible to children, for cleaning materials, disinfectants, flammable, poisonous and other dangerous substances, tools, toiletries and first aid equipment.

The centre shall have adequate storage facilities for indoor equipment.

The centre shall have display areas in each play room that are accessible to children for the placement of indoor equipment The shall have storage space for each child’s personal belongings.

Implementation

8. Administrative Clerical staff

The way in which a program is administered will affect all the interactions within it.

Effective administration facilitates the provision of high quality care for children.

The effective operation of a child care centre requires space for the administrative functions of a centre, for private consultations with a guardian/parent and for respite of staff. These areas are not to encroach upon the indoor area of 3.25 sq meters required for child play space.

Agreed Standard

A child care centre shall have ready access to space for administration, for private consultations with parents and for respite of staff. This space is not to encroach upon the indoor area of 3.25 sq meters required for child play space.

Implementation

Standard of Day Care – health and safety

National standards should be agreed in the following areas

Fencing

Glass

Telephone

Pools

Heating

Infectious Diseases

Illness and Accident

First Aid

Food

Outdoor Play Equipment

Building Cleanliness, Maintenance and Repair

Staff Health\

Smoking

Plants

Animals

Child Health

Medication

Emergency procedures/Fire Drill

1. Fencing

The provision of boundary fencing around outdoor play areas is necessary to ensure that children cannot impulsively run out into dangerous situations. The design and height of fencing should be such as to prevent children from scaling or crawling under it. Locking mechanisms should be provided in order to overcome potentially dangerous situations when gates are not closed. The provision of fencing is not a substitute for consistent supervision of children in outdoor play areas and it is acknowledged that children with a will may scale seemingly child-proof fencing.

Agreed Standards

Outdoor play spaces shall be fenced on all sides with fences at least 1200mmhigh. The design of the fence should be such as to prevent children from scaling or crawling under it.

All gates leading to or from play areas shall be of the same height and be equipped with a child-proof self-locking mechanism.

Child care premises that are adjacent to or provide access to any hazards, including water hazards or major roads, shall be isolated from such hazard by a fence that is at least 1500mm in height or by an approved pool fence.

Any side of a stairway, ramp, corridor, hallway or external balcony which is not abutting a wall shall be enclosed to prevent a child falling through.

Implementation

2. Glass

Children must be protected from falling through window glass. The nature of children’s play increases the risk of accidental collision with sheet glass. The provision of safety glass to a standard as required in the Building Code of Australia minimizes breakage in the event of minor collisions.

Agreed Standard

Any glazed area accessible to children shall be safety glazed or effectively guarded by barriers which prevent a child striking or falling against the glass

Implementation

3. Telephone

The provision of a telephone in a child care centre is necessary for the general business operations of the service, but more importantly for the calling of emergency services and notification of parents in the case of illness or accidents. For this reason the telephone should be accessible to staff during he operating hours of a centre.

Agreed Standard

The centre shall have an operating telephone readily accessible to staff.

5. Pools

Children can drown in as little as 5 centimeters of water. Whilst most drowning occur in swimming pools, chide care centers must be mindful of other potentially dangerous situations. Particular attention must therefore be paid to children in the presence of water.

The proposed standards on child/adult ratios in relation to excursions must apply when children have access to swimming pools. Australian Standards in relation to fencing around swimming pools apply automatically to child care services. The proposed standard refers specifically to safety precautions when using wading pools. A practice where the pool is emptied after every use prevents accidents in the event of child using ti unsupervised. The practice is also supported by evidence demonstrating that bacteria and algae that may be detrimental to children, can grow quickly in unchlorinated water and be of considerable health risk to children.

Agreed Standard

All paddling pools shall be emptied after sue and stored so as to prevent the collection of water.

Requirements by State or Local Authorities in relation to fencing around swimming pools shall apply to child care centers.

6. Heating

The provision of safety features around heating and cooling units is necessary to ensure the safety of children. Ione of the most common household accidents involve children coming into contact with hot appliances causing burns and scalds.

Agreed Standard

That all heating and cooling units shall be adequately guarded to prevent accidental contact with hot surfaces or moving parts and the emission of any sparks or flames.

All equipment controls shall be guarded to prevent children’s access.

Fans in child rooms shall be in an inaccessible position to children.

7. Infectious Diseases

For the general health and well being of children and staff it is necessary to minimize the risk of cross infection, both through the practice of strict hygiene codes and the isolation of children from the centre when infection occurs.

Parents have the right to know the centre policies to satisfy themselves that the centre practices are in keeping with their expectations.

The centre practices must respect the rights of individual privacy and be in keeping with Commonwealth and State Acts that specifically deal with a particular disease. In States and Territories where the health authority has recommended practices of exclusion, these should be maintained.

Agreed Standard

The licensee shall ensure that the centre has a policy on infectious diseases which outlines the exclusion practices for children who have an infectious disease or who have been exposed to an infectious disease.

The licensee shall ensure that the policy is practiced

The licensee shall ensure that information about the occurrence within the centre of infectious disease (with the exception of those diseases dealt with by the Commonwealth Privacy Act or State or Territory Health Acts) in either the staff or children is made available to the parents or guardians of children in a manner that is not prejudicial to the rights of individual children or staff.

8. Illness and Accidents

The standard of care provided for each child must ensure maximum personal safety.

In the interests of maintaining rights and to ensure the emotional security of the child, every attempt must be made to inform the parent of the status of the health of the child in such situations.

The administration of medication poses a serious question for corers. Failure to follow good practice may result in an accident. Duplicate dosages could be administered or medication to which the child is allergic could be given. In order that the interests of the child, parents and staff are maintained, administration of medication must only be given with parental consent, or in the case of emergency with permission from a medical practitioner. A record must be kept of all medication given to a child with a record of the staff administering the medication.

The occurrence of a serious accident or death of a child in care causes much distress for all parties. The licensing authority requires notification of such occurrences so that assistance can be offered to individuals who may benefit from support (this may be provided by the licensing authority or referred appropriately). Monitoring of such occurrences also enables the identification of hazards that may otherwise go noticed in a centre.

Agreed Standard

1. The licensee shall ensure that if a child has an accident or becomes ill while attending the centre

(a) the child is kept under adult supervision until the child recovers or the child’s parents or some other responsible person takes charge of the child

(b) and if the child requires immediate medical aid, all responsible attempts are taken to secure that attention and to notify the parent of the accident or illness

(c) in case of medication being required in an emergency without the parent’s/guardian’s prior consent, every attempt is made to secure that consent or the consent from a registered medical practitioner.

2. The licensee shall ensure that a parent or other responsible person is notified of any medication administered to the child and any other matter concerning the child’s health that comes to the notice of the licensee while the child is attending the centre.

3. The licensee shall ensure that if a child has a serious accident that causes hospitalization or death at the centre, the chief executive officer of the licensing authority is notified no later than the next working day of that fact and the circumstances of the injury or death.

4. The licensee shall ensure that the centre shall maintain a register of all accidents detailing the time, circumstances and staff in attendance.

5. The licensee shall ensure that at least one staff member is to hold a current approved first aid qualification.

9. First Aid

In the event of a child’s accident or illness, first aid equipment must be available.

Agreed Standard

The licensee shall maintain in efficient order a fully equipped first-aid kit on the child care premises in a position that is inaccessible to children.

10. Food

The provision of a nutritious diet to children is necessary to continuing health and well-being. Children who do not have adequate food and fluids do not perform to the best of their ability and are more prone to accident due to tiredness and irritation. The provision of food that suits the developmental needs of children is essential to ensure that accidents do not occur. It needs to be of a standard to attract the interest of the children who may be otherwise reluctant eaters. Information for parents regarding the meals provided for their child is necessary to ensure that a child is offered a balanced diet throughout the day.

Agreed Standard

The centre shall ensure that food provided by the child care service is nutritious, adequate in quantity, varied and offered at frequent intervals.

The centre shall each week prominently display in a place visible to parents the menu which outlines the food provided daily.

The centre shall have a food policy that is accessible to parents that outlines the centre’s approach to individual children’s dietary needs, culture, religion and health.

11. Outdoor Play Equipment

The frequency of accidents involving children whilst playing on outdoor equipment both in the home and in public places led to the development of Australian Standards in relation to outdoor equipment.

Agreed Standard

Outdoor play equipment shall comply with Australian Standards

The equipment in the playground shall not constitute a hazard to children because of

(a) the lack of soft surfaces under or around the equipment

(b) the height from which a child can fall

(c) the likelihood that a child can be trapped, pinched or crushed in the equipment or struck by it

(d) sharp or rough edges and projections or rust

12. Building Cleanliness, Maintenance and Repairs

The provision of an environment that is safe, clean and in a hygienic condition is necessary for the general health of children. Environments that are not regularly cleaned and kept in a hygienic state encourage vermin, bacterial and fungal outbreak which can have serious consequences to a child’s health.

In addition to the general health of children it is necessary that the centre models to children standards that will promote sound long term behavior. It is generally accepted within social norms that clean and hygienic environments are desirable and are to be encouraged.

Agreed Standard

The centre shall ensure that the building, grounds and all equipment and furnishings used in the child care service are maintained in a thoroughly safe, clean and hygienic condition in good repair at all times.The centre buildings and grounds shall be kept free of vermin.

13. Staff Health

For the general health and well being of children and staff, it is necessary to minimize the risk of cross infection between children and between staff and children through strict hygiene practices. It is necessary that staff have up to date information from health authorities in relation to advised handling procedures to minimize cross infection as policies may change as new research becomes available.

There is much documentation indicating the risks associated with the consumption of alcohol and other drugs when operating in precise situations. Clearly judgments are impaired when the risks of accidents occurring are increased in these situations.

Furthermore, the consequences of modeling undesirable behavior to children must be the priority to avoid in child care centers.

Agreed Standard

The licensee shall ensure that employees observe strict health and hygiene practices that have regard to current community standards and ensure that staff has access to current information provided by relevant government departments to minimize health risks to staff and children.

The Minister’s Delegate may at any time require a person employed or involved at the centre to submit to a medical examination.

No staff member who is adversely affected by drugs or alcohol shall supervise or remain in the presence of a child.

The licensee shall ensure that alcohol or illegal drugs are not consumed on the premises during the hours the service is operating.

14. Smoking

Research indicates that the health risk to passive smokers is considerable. In the interests of the health of children both in the long term and the immediate consequence to children who suffer from lung sensitive conditions. It is necessary that children are not exposed to the risk. Centers should also be mindful to the effects of modeling positive behavior to children.

Agreed Standard

Smoking shall be prohibited in the presence of children or in a building where children are being cared for.

15. Plants

Many common plants pose a health risk if consumed. Some plants cause skin irritation on contact. As with other hazardous items it is necessary that children be protected from the risks associated with poisonous vegetation.

Agreed Standard

The licensee shall identify any poisonous vegetation on the premises and shall ensure that vegetation is not accessible to children.

16. Animals

The keeping of animals is common to the Australian culture. When animals are kept in a sound condition and environment it can be both educational to children and promote a sense of caring and responsibility. In addition to legal questions in regard to the protection of animal welfare rights, modeling positive behavior is important for children.

Maintaining animals in an hygienic condition is necessary for the health and safety of children. Animals can become a source of infection.

Agreed Standard

Any animal or bird kept on or about the premises shall be maintained by the licensee in a clean and healthy condition.

The licensee shall ensure that there is no animal, bird or livestock present in the centre which is likely to be a source of infection or which in any way may be detrimental to the well-being of the children

17. Child Health

It is well accepted that children are influenced by the behavior of others around them. Modeling of sound hygiene practices by staff and encouraging their use by children will promote children to adopt personal hygiene practices beneficial to their long term health.

Agreed Standard

The centre shall ensure that the staff observes strict health and hygiene practices in relation to children that have regard to current community standards and are in accord with relevant government guidelines to minimize risks to children. Staff shall encourage children to observe these practices.

18. Medication

As discussed in the section Illness and Accidents, procedures for administration of medication to children must be strictly followed. A record of the procedure is necessary to ensure the child’s safety against risk of duplicate dosages. The record also protects the interests of staff from claims of negligence.

Agreed Standard

If any medication is administered to the child while in the licensee’s care the following records shall be maintained

(a) the name of the medication

(b) the date, time and dosage administered

(c) the name of the person who administered the medication and the person who checked the dosage, and

(d) the parent’s written permission for and doctor’s instruction in relation to its administration.

19. Emergency Procedures/Fire Drills

To ensure the safety of children in the case of fire and other emergencies, emergency procedures must be known and practiced.

Agreed Standard

The licensee shall develop an emergency procedure in consultation with the local authority.

All staff shall have available a copy of emergency procedures.

The licensee shall ensure that the procedures are practiced a minimum of twice a year or at a frequency as determined by a relevant authority.

A record of the practices shall be maintained at the centre for a period if two years.

Child Care Centre Standards

Physical Environment

General Requirements: All child care facilities in the State of Florida are required to be clean, in good structural condition, free from any safety and health hazards and any kind of vermin infestation. No activity that may endanger the health and safety of the children will be allowed in any portion of the building while the facility is in operation. All areas that are accessible to the children must be absolutely free of any hazardous material or toxic substance. Potentially harmful materials like cleaning supplies must be properly labeled and must be kept away from the reach of the children. Narcotics, alcohol, other impairing drugs, and firearms and weapons shall not be allowed within the building or on the possession of any person within the premises of the facility.

Construction of new child care facility or renovations and modifications of existing facility must conform with the requirements of the local government unit that has jurisdiction over the area.

Rooms Occupied by the Children: All rooms used by the children in the child care facility must be kept clean, in good condition, and adequately ventilated. Cleaning must not be done in the rooms when they are occupied by the children except for the general cleaning activities which are part of the daily routine.

Room temperature must be maintained at 65 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Adequate lighting shall be provided to allow for safety in entering and exiting rooms and to allow close visual observation and supervision of the children even during naptime.

Rooms must be free from rodents and vermin infestation but no pest control activity shall be allowed when the rooms are occupied by the children.

Indoor Space: Child care facility must allot at least 20 square feet of indoor floor space for every child. Such space must be available for classroom, play area, work area, and nap space. Indoor floor area does not include kitchen, storage area, laundry room, and hallways.
Outdoor Play Area: The outdoor play area, which should be clean and free of hazards and litter, must be 45 square feet per child in any group using it at a time. It must be surrounded by fence in accordance with the requirements of the local government unit that has jurisdiction over the area.
Napping or Sleeping Space: Each child care facility must have a designated area where a child can lie down to rest or nap. Sanitary and safe bedding that is appropriate for the child’s size shall be provided by the facility. Linens used for sleeping or napping must be stored in a sanitary place and need to be laundered at least once a week. Linens that are used for more than one child must be laundered between usages.
Bath and Toilet Facilities: Every child care center must provide and maintain toilet and bath facilities for use by the children. The same must be accessible to the children, taking into consideration their size and height. There must be running water, soap, toilet paper, paper towels and trash receptacles that are available and within reach of the children. The toilet and bath facilities must be sanitized and cleaned at least once a day.
Fire Safety: Child care facilities must conform with the standards set forth by the State Fire Marshall. Fire drills must be conducted at least once a month when children are present in the facility.
Health and Sanitation: Safe drinking water shall be provided in every child care facility and health and sanitation requirements must strictly be followed. Personal hygiene procedures for the staff members and children must be strictly observed.
Equipment and Furnishings: Child care facilities must make available safe and suitable equipments and furnishings, both indoor and outdoor, for the children. Toys and indoor equipments must be maintained in a sanitary condition. Outdoor equipment must not pose any safety hazard to the children.

Basic Requirement of a Standard Daycare Centre

Building and Equipment

The applicant for a child day care license must submit to the Office a diagram of the proposed child day care center together with the application for licensure. The diagram must show: dimensions of rooms, the age group using each room, the size of the group using each room, kitchens and bathrooms for children and staff, exits, alternate means of exit, plumbing fixtures, and the outdoor play area showing its proximity to the building. Changes in the design and use of the building must be done only after getting an approval from the Office.

Areas in the building that will be devoted for use of the children must be well-lighted and well-ventilated. There must be adequate heating or cooling for the protection of the health of the children. A minimum temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit must be maintained in the rooms to be occupied by the children.

There must be a minimum of 35 square feet of space for each child. Areas for larger monitor activity, staff lounges, storage spaces, halls, bathrooms, kitchens and officers are not to be including in calculating the 35 square feet requirement.

A separate quiet area shall be provided for children who become ill or who develop symptoms of illness. This area must be adequately supervised by a staff member.

There must be no toxic paints or finishes on room surfaces, furniture or other equipment, materials or furnishings which may be used by the children or are within their reach. Peeling or damaged paint must be immediately repaired.

The child day care center must provide an accessible outdoor play space which is adequate for active play.

The center must provide adequate and sanitary toilet facilities for the children in a separate, properly ventilated room. One toilet and one washbasin must be made available for every group of 15 children, or part thereof.

The child day care center must provide adequate and safe water supply and sewage facilities to comply with State and local laws. Hot and cold running water must be available at all times.

Fire Protection

The child day care center must take all precautions to eliminate any condition which may contribute to or create a fire hazard. Fire detection, alarm and firefighting equipment that are appropriate for the type of the building, construction, size and occupancy of the room must be provided by the center.

Evacuation drills must be conducted on a monthly basis during various hours of operation of the child day care center. A record of the drills must be kept on file of the center using Office issued forms or approved equivalents.

All fire alarm and detection systems, and all fire suppression, equipment and systems must be tested and maintained in accordance with the applicable requirements of the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code.

Adequate means of exit must be provided in the building occupied by the child day care center. All corridors, aisles, and evacuation routes must be free of any hazard or obstructions.

Steam or hot water boilers must be installed in a manner approved in accordance with the requirements of the New York State Department of Labor. Rooms containing boilers, fuel burning furnaces or other fuel burning heating equipment must be constructed of a minimum of one hour fire resistant materials as required by the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code.

Trash, garbage and combustible materials must not be stored in furnace rooms or in rooms or outdoor areas that are occupied or accessible to children.

A monthly inspection of the premises to observe fire or safety hazards must be conducted by the director or a designated qualified staff member. Any hazard found must be immediately corrected. The record of inspection must be maintain at the center.

Safety

All precautions must be taken to remove all conditions in children accessible areas that may pose safety or health hazard.

The provider must submit to the Office a written plan for the emergency evacuation of the children from the center’s premises using a form provided by the Office. The primary concern of an emergency plan will be the evacuation of the children. The plan, when approved by the Office, must be posted in conspicuous locations in the center. The emergency evacuation plan must cover the following:

How children and staff will be made aware of the emergency;
Primary and secondary evacuation routes;
Method of evacuation, including the evacuation area, and the manner of checking the attendance;
Roles and functions of the staff during evacuation; and
Notification by the staff of the authorities and the children’s parents.

The center will not allow the use of any portable heater or other portable heating devices. Radiators and pipes located in rooms occupied or accessible by children must have protection guards to prevent burning or injury. Barriers must be installed in unsafe areas such are swimming pools, open drainage ditches, wells, fireplaces, and permanently installed gas heaters.

Public swimming pools and adjacent areas used by the children must be constructed, maintained and used in accordance with the New York State Sanitary Code, and in manners that will ensure the lives and health of the children.

The child day care center must have access to at least one stationary single-line telephone for general use and emergencies.

Transportation

The written consent from the parent must be obtained when transportation will be provided or arranged for by the child day care center. Children must not be left unattended in any motor vehicle or other form of transportation. The driver of the vehicle or a staff member monitoring the children must ensure that each child will board or leave a vehicle from the curb side of the street. Safety seats or safety belts appropriate for the age of the children must be provided as required by the Vehicle and Traffic Law.

Motor vehicles used to transport children in care at the child day care center must have a current registration and inspection sticker and must be operated by a person who is at least 18 years of age and in possession of a valid driver’s license.

Health And Infection Control

The child day care center must provide a plan that will aim to protect and promote the health of the children in a manner consistent with the health care plan guidelines issued by the Office. The guidelines will cover practices to promote the health of the children and special considerations for the care of mildly and moderately ill children for programs that provide care for such children. The health care plan must describe the following:

How a staff member will conduct the daily health check of each child to recognize symptoms of illness, communicable diseases and child abuse or maltreatment;
Which staff members are certified to administer medications to the children. Only trained, designated staff person may administer medication to children. The designated person must be at least 18 years of age, possesses a current certification in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and has completed the administration of medicine training.

The center must maintain first aid kits and must monitor and restock the kits when needed. The center must also take steps to prevent the spread of infections through hand washing and diapering techniques, observe safety precautions relating to blood, sanitation of equipment and toys, and the observation of symptoms of illness in the children.

The center must have in place an advance arrangements for the care of any child who has developed symptoms of illness or is injured while in day care, including notifying the parents or guardians of the child.

Nutrition

Each child who is in the child day care center for more than ten hours must receive a minimum of two nutritious meals. Food to be served to the children must be prepared and stored in a safe and sanitary manner and served at appropriate intervals. If meal is not provided by the center, there must be adequate supplemental food available for the children in the event that no meal is provided by the parent or the meal provided by the parent is of inadequate nutritional value.

If meals are provided by the center, food preferences for personal, religious or medical reasons may be accommodated. Portions of the meals must be of sufficient for the size and age of the children in care. Second helping of food must be provided to the children if so requested.

Children must be encouraged and helped to gain independence in feeding themselves and must be allowed to learn acceptable table manners appropriate to their developmental levels.

Safe drinking water must be made available to children at all times and must be offered at intervals that are responsive to the needs of the individual children.

Providers must get the a written statement for the parent of each infant in care setting forth the formula and feeding schedule instruction for the infant. Where formula is required, the same may be prepared and provided by the parent, or by a qualified, designated staff person when agreed to in writing by the parent. All efforts must be made to accommodate the needs of a child who is being breast-fed

Part – eight

The Effects of Day Care on Children’s Emotional,

Cognitive, and Social Development

One aspect of the sociological relevance of this topic stems from socially constructed ideas of women being the primary provider for children and the influence of their presence in their children’s lives. The concern of day-care having adverse effects on children began to emerge when social change allowed women to break from the traditional role of care-taker and instead participate in the workplace.[9] Now that there has been a transition in the gender role of women it is important to consider how other institutions such as day-care effect the development of children. With more and more children attending day-care because of the increase in women gaining full-time employment, research on the day-care institution is also sociologically relevant because of the mere fact that it has provided policy makers with criteria to create standards and regulations for licensed childcare facilities to abide by to help promote positive and healthy development in children.[10]

It seems that the quality of the day-care received is an extremely important variable in the outcomes of children, however, defining high-quality and low-quality is usually left out of many studies.[11] The Early Child Care Research Network has provided several factors that are included in their criteria of the quality of a day-care center. It seems that process or dynamic variables of quality have a direct impact on children’s development, for instance, the understanding and sensitivity of a caregiver. ‘Structural’ variables such as the ratio of child to staff and the amount of education and training that the day-care provider has seem to have indirect effects of child development. Consequently, children who attended high quality day-care were probably under the care of educated and sensitive providers, in a small teacher-child ratio.[12]

The Effects of Day Care on Emotional Development

When examining the effects that day care produces on the emotional development of children, which is defined as learning to perceive, appraise, and express emotions accurately and appropriately, to use emotions to facilitate thinking, to understand and analyze emotions, to use emotional knowledge effectively, and to regulate one’s emotions to promote both emotional and intellectual, the attachment bond between the infant and their mother is often evaluated.[13] One assessment of this bond is the Ainsworth Strange Situation, a method widely used in psychological child development studies. The Strange Situation takes place as an observational experiment in which the infant and mother are situated in a room with a stranger.[14] A series of uncomfortable and slightly distressful episodes occur including the mother leaving the child with the stranger and shortly returning. [15]The behavior of the child and their interactions with the adults are observed as well as their reactions to their mothers’ absence and the following reunion. Their responses to the situations are assessed to determine whether the child has a secure or insecure bond with their mother.[16]

When comparing the attachment types of children who attended day-care to those infants who were home-reared. Findings revealed that children who were considered to have secure attachments to their mothers experienced negative effects from day-care, while insecurely attached infants appeared to benefit from the out of home care. Insecure infants tend to show little stress and ignore their mother or are angry with her when she returns.[17] Day-care may provide a stable and consistent environment that make children feel safe but allows them to experience missing their parents and looking forward to the reunion with them. Thus, insecure children may be benefiting from the day-care experience a little more than children with secure attachments.[18]

In review on the effects of day-care, it is certainly questionable as to whether or not this method is accurately assessing the state of the mother-infant relationship. It may not be a valid appraisal when exploring the effects that day-care may have on the bond between a child and their mother because it only examines the short term effect of a mother leaving their child with a stranger in a stressful situation, where day-care experiences are in an environment with other children, in a consistent day to day atmosphere, and usually are not as confusing to the child.[19]

To avoid the ambiguity of the Ainsworth assessment, other methods are utilized to examine the mother-infant bond. There is one way to do this is by not only observing the mother-child bond, but also investigating the relationship that is formed between the infant and their day-care teacher.[20] By creating a situation similar to that of the Strange Situation but including the presence of the day care provider, the researchers were able to gain insight as to whether or not children who attended day-care formed bonds that replaced the relationship they had with their mother.[21]

The Effects of Day-Care on Social And Cognitive Development

A great deal of speculation has been drawn on the implications that day-care might have on the social and cognitive development of children. Social development can be defined as “the ways in which individuals’ social interactions and expectations change across the life span” while cognitive development involves the processes of learning problem solving, reasoning, imagining, and perceiving.[22] Many studies that research these aspects of development use longitudinal studies to exemplify the day-care child’s performances later in their early school years used two longitudinal sets to explore the grade school performance of children who received infant day-care.[23] Parents filled out a questionnaire packet. The amount of time spent in high quality day-care was positively related to the number of peers the child had in grade school and the number of extracurricular activities they were involved with. The measurements revealed positive ratings from teachers and parents and the children were also observed to have a low amount of behavioral problems.

These results support the idea that day-care does not have negative effects on children’s social development and even suggest that high quality day-care may produce positive effects. However, the strength of this finding declines over time. It is also important to note that studies of this nature often do not make comparisons to the performance of grade school children who were home-reared, thus excluding evidence that may reveal similar grade school behaviors in both sets of children. Social development may also be a product of cultural ideals taught in day cares. Characteristics such as aggression, impulsivity, and egocentrism may reflect the American values that are often promoted or approved of by teachers and day-care providers.[24] It is plausible, however, that these same cultural ideals may be taught just as much in the home.

Many studies in the area of cognitive development produce inconsistent and contradictory findings. In an update of the effects of day-care a compilation of studies are compared and although some report correlations between day-care attendance in infancy and lower test scores, others find results to be quite contrary. Day-care children’s cognitive development and assessed the children’s outcomes in preschool, kindergarten and second grade. Evaluations were made of the quality of the day-care received in preschool and outcomes of the children were calculated through parent surveys, standard test procedures and teacher ratings.[25]

Quality of care seemed to have an impact on the outcomes of the children and those who received higher quality care tended to have higher and more positive ratings in most of the skills assessed. Most of the results that relate high language, math, cognition and attention skills with receiving high quality day-care in infancy, seem to decline over time and are only correlated through kindergarten, rarely though the second grade. Again these studies do not compare the cognitive skills of non-day-care children.

The research that finds positive effects of day-care on children’s social and cognitive development suggest that perhaps child-care centers encourage more social interaction than the environment of a home-reared child. There may be more stimulation in day-care and more communication and sharing to be learned, therefore enhancing these abilities of the children who attend them. Day-care centers that are school oriented also probably facilitate cognitive skills early on, at a consistent rate.[26]

Part – nine

Day Care Center: Advantage and Disadvantage

Enrolling child to a daycare center can pose both positive and negative effects on children. Ever since women started working regularly and being employed by certain companies, more and more children are being brought to daycare centers where they are usually cared for and taught while their parents are tied down with ways on how to generate income into their households.

Enrolling the child to the services of a daycare center can be a tremendous opportunity for your child to learn new things and interact with different types of people. They can also improve their vocabulary as well and learn how to open themselves up to others. Children are also gifted with the opportunity to learn basic academic skills at an earlier age, and adapt to the more rigid structure of a classroom environment prior to entering Kindergarten, easing what is often a difficult transition for children who are kept at home in their preschool years.

On the other hand, not all day care providers can provide you with the assurance of giving your child quality education and care requirements. Some daycare centers do not have enough staffs and workers who can attend to every child’s need that’s why in some cases, some staffs and employees of certain daycare centers end up to become very irritable and indifferent when it comes to dealing with children.

When your child reaches the age when he or she is ready to enter preschool, he or she is attended to by a single teacher together with around fourteen other studentsyou’re your child happens to be very timid, there is a very great and high risk that your child will be given less attention by his or her teacher. This behavior may stem from the need to compete for attention from a very young age, and is displayed in children of large families as well. Those children who are quiet and well behaved are set to the side while the teachers struggle to deal with the children who are not so self sufficient; is it any wonder, then, that this often results in these children learning to emulate the less than savoury behaviour of their peers, whom they see receiving the individual attention they crave.

The teachers should display a genuine love for the children, with experience and training in child development and psychology, allowing them to quickly detect a problem with a student before it starts to become uncontrollable. Parents should remain in contact with the child’s teacher, by receiving progress reports and observing classroom behaviour on a regular basis. It is also important for the child’s parents to be open when it comes to interacting and dealing with the schools. This way they can have the assurance of ensuring a better and brighter life for their child.

Although there are both advantages and disadvantages to enrolling your child to a daycare center, at the end of the day it is important for you to sit down with your child and talk to them about it.

Advantages of Day Care

Many parents like daycare centers because they offer a formal, structured environment. All daycare centers are inspected for licensing purposes, caregivers are supervised and a director oversees the entire operation.

I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of hiring a nanny. I feel like I’d always want to check up, says , I know taking care of a child can be frustrating and a nanny can also find it stressful. Rather than worry about how a nanny might handle her son during particularly trying moments, Haland decided on daycare. [27]

Centers have clear cut rules for parents to follow so you know exactly what is expected of you. A daycare center is more affordable than a nanny. Plus, parents have the opportunity to meet other parents who may be able to lend support and babysitting time.

Also, the arrangement is more stable because the center agrees to watch over your child regardless whether a teacher is sick or tardy or even tired of working for you. Yvonne Matlosz, BabyCenter mom, agrees. We chose a daycare center so we didn’t have to work around someone else’s sick days and vacation, she says.

Staff members at good centers are usually trained in early childhood education so they know what to expect from your child developmentally and are able to nurture his growing skills accordingly. If the center you’re considering doesn’t hire knowledgeable staff, keep looking.

Good daycare centers include a nice mix of activities during the day to teach different skills, such as singing, dancing, and storytelling. Scott Huber, whose three-year-old daughter Lindsay has attended daycare in Portland, Oregon, since she was two months old, says he likes the fact that his daughter spends her day doing projects and honing skills in a structured setting.

Ongoing research by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development suggests that children in quality daycare centers may even have an intellectual edge over those in other kinds of care. When researchers compared kids in quality daycare to those in other, equally high-quality childcare situations, children in centers performed a little better on tests.

Finally, toddlers can benefit from the chance to socialize with other children, which they may not get to do as often or at all when a nanny or a relative cares for them at home.

Disadvantages of Day Care Centre

One problem with daycare is that you’re at the center’s mercy. You may have to pay a costly fee for late pickups, scramble for backup care when the center is closed on holidays, and stay at home when your child is sick. And your child is more likely to catch diseases such as colds and pinkeye, since he’s exposed to more germs.

Children are also less likely to get the one-on-one care that you take for granted with a stay-at-home mom or nanny. Babies, in particular, need a lot of love and attention to thrive and do well. Finally, moms and dads know that handling one baby, let alone three or more, is tough work, which is why some parents balk at the idea of a single teacher caring for more than one baby at a daycare center all day long.

part – ten

THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION

Child care and education is what many professionals are calling child care these days, because quality child care provides both care and nurturing for the child as well as early learning. It supports healthy child development.

For low-income families quality child care is critical but highly required for the dual serviced parent. High-quality child care settings provide safe places for kids to be and grow, offer food programs and good nutrition, provide environments for socialization, physical development and learning. These are all things that contribute to child development and have effects into teen and ultimately adult years, yet they are things low-income working parents may not easily provide. In addition, the economic impacts brought about by quality child care benefit not only the children but also local economies. Resident services programs can be a significant link for families seeking these resources, whether they offer child care on-site or help families find it in the neighborhood.

Brain Development

The first three years of a child’s life are critical to healthy development. During these years, proper stimulation of all the facets of the growing brain is crucial. Some experts believe that the critical period extends up to even 5 and 6 years old.[28]

Does experience change the actual structure of the brain?

Yes. Brain development is activity-dependent, meaning that the electrical activity in every circuit is sensory, motor, emotional, cognitive shapes the way that circuit gets put together. Like computer circuits, neural circuits process information through the flow of electricity. Unlike computer circuits, however, the circuits in our brains are not fixed. Every experience is whether it’s seeing one’s first rainbow, riding a bicycle, reading a book or sharing a joke-excites certain neural circuits and leaves others inactive. Those that are repeatedly and consistently turned on will be strengthened, while those that are rarely excited may drop away. Or, as neuroscientists sometimes say, Cells that fire together, wire together. The elimination of unused neural circuits, also referred to as pruning, may sound harsh, but it is generally a good thing. It streamlines children’s neural processing, making the remaining circuits work more quickly and efficiently. Without synaptic pruning, children wouldn’t be able to walk, talk or even see properly.[29]

What is a critical period in brain development?

Pruning or selection of active neural circuits takes place throughout life, but is far more common in early childhood. Babies require normal visual input or they may suffer permanent impairment; children born with crossed or “lazy” eyes will fail to develop full acuity and depth perception if the problem is not promptly corrected. Language skills depend on verbal input in the first few years or certain skills, particularly grammar and pronunciation, may be permanently impacted. The critical period for language-learning begins to close around five years of age and ends around puberty. This is why individuals who learn a new language after puberty almost always speak it with a foreign accent.[30]

Child Health

Child care providers can help parents provide their children with many critical elements, including good nutrition, lead and environmental safety, asthma and access to child health insurance. Quality home-based and center-based child care programs provide meals for the children and nutrition education for parents, through the Federal Child and Adult Care Food Program from the Department of Agriculture and local university extension offices. Some centers have on-site medical screening.[31]

Quality child care and early education can have a profound positive influence on children’s health, development and ability to learn. The striking correlation between children’s experience in quality child care and their later success demonstrates the importance of continually improving child care environments.[32]

Social Outcomes and Juvenile Crime

The Children from a quality preschool program out-performed a control group in educational achievement, economic performance and employment, and had a lower incidence of arrests for violent crimes as well as drug and property crimes. More males raised their own children. More participants, male and female, got along very well with their families. This is just one example, albeit a very significant one, of the growing body of research that is showing the positive effects over time of quality early childhood education.[33]

It is found that young people who spend their early years in high-quality child care are half as likely to be arrested later. The report compared the juvenile arrest records of 1,000 18-year-olds who had been enrolled in those centers as children, with similarly at-risk youths who had received full-day kindergarten, but not the pre-school and parent-coaching program provided by the centers. Of those who had only kindergarten, 26 percent had had at least one juvenile arrest and 15 percent had had two or more arrests as juveniles. Of those who had attended the pre-school program, 16 percent had had at least one arrest and 8 percent had had two or more.[34]

Part – eleven

The Impact of Day Care Centers on Child Development

Opting to enroll children in a quality day care program is one of the smartest decisions parents can make. Placing children in day care programs gives them a jump start on development. Giving children as many opportunities as possible, as early as possible, ensures that children are more than prepared to meet school expectations.

Academic Development

One of the most important opportunities for early childhood development is academic stimulation. Quality childhood day care centers have allotted time to work with students on introductory academic work, such as color, number and letter identification.

Social Development

Day care centers place great emphasis on building social skills. In day care, students begin learning how to make friends, appreciate diversity and behave appropriately in the classroom.

Creativity

Building creativity and imagination is a huge part of child development at day care centers, which allow time for artwork, hands-on play and other activities.

Physical Development

Physical growth and development are significant aspects of childhood. Good day care centers provide outdoor and indoor play time, as well as healthy meals or snacks.

Life Skills

Day care facilities help instill important life skills in students, such as effective communication, teamwork and conflict resolution.

Part – twelve

Child Day Care Center: Problems and Challenges to Establish

A child care center offers a rewarding option for an entrepreneur who loves children. Owning a daycare consists of more than simply playing with kids all day. The business inherently brings risks and challenges to the owner. Identify the potential risks for your personal daycare business to remedy them before they develop into full-fledged problems.

Legal Issues

Daycare centers follow guidelines and regulations from the government to ensure the safety of the children. Infractions of these laws result in hefty fines and possible closure of the childcare center. Ensure that all of the laws and guidelines are followed in the daycare center based on your specific type of license. Fulfill the requirements of the licensing procedure, maintain your insurance policy and comply with all inspections to avoid legal issues.

Staff

Finding high-quality employees to staff a child daycare proves challenging in many areas. The pay scale for daycare employees falls below the level that many people need to pay their bills. Yet hiring qualified staff members ensures the children receive appropriate care at the center. Striking a balance between pay and quality causes problems for some daycare owners. One remedy is to provide specific training for the hired staff members to give them the tools to succeed.

Enrollment

Maintaining the enrollment numbers at the childcare center provides the financial support necessary to continue operation. A low enrollment reduces the center’s income. This often means difficulty paying rent, salaries of staff members, insurance and other expenses. The daycare center may take time to reach full capacity. Research the local market and establish a solid advertising plan to fill the slots in the daycare quickly. Provide high-quality care and customer service to the parents to keep the enrollment high. Satisfied parents will keep their children in the program and refer it to others. When you do reach maximum capacity, start a waiting list. This provides a back up list when a child leaves the center, reducing the chances of lost income from reduced enrollment.

Discipline

Discipline issues exist in any child care facility. Biting, hitting and the inability to follow directions top the list of daycare behavior problems. A solid plan for addressing these behavior issues creates a uniform behavior management system. A stimulating environment keeps children engaged in active play, further reducing the behavior incidents. Communicate openly with parents when repetitive behavior problems occur to build a partnership with them. Demonstrating that the center knows how to handle discipline problems creates a good reputation.

Child Safety

The safety of the children under your care requires a great deal of attention. Risks to the children reduce your reputation as a quality care provider. Serious injuries to the children may result in lawsuits, irate parents and other negative effects. Create a set of policies and procedures that address potential risks for children. Topics include chemical storage, visitor policy, facility maintenance, student-to-teacher ratio and playground rules. Providing the staff members with appropriate training allows them to identify and prevent potential risks.

Part – therein

Legal requirements for operating a daycare service

States have passed laws and regulations that daycare service providers must adhere to. You must learn what these requirements are during the planning stage of your business so that you will be prepared to meet the minimum requirements imposed by your state or provincial authorities.

Before we examine the legal requirements of operating a daycare service, we need to point out that some states differentiate between a daycare service and a babysitting service. Usually, the number of children attended determines whether it is a babysitting service or a daycare service. Legal requirements for a babysitting service are much less onerous than the ones required for a full-fledged daycare service. Again, check the laws and regulations of your state so that you will know if the service you intend to provide is a babysitting service or a daycare service. Many states require that daycare service providers register with the state’s daycare authority, even be licensed, while babysitting services do not.

The first thing that we need to realize is that the legal requirements for operating a daycare service are not imposed just to make life difficult for the service provider. They are there to provide protection to the children, reassurance to the parents, and to provide a pleasant, fun and safe atmosphere for the children. By meeting the legal requirements, a daycare service provider should be able to feel somewhat shielded from potential lawsuits launched by disgruntled parents. Because you have met the minimum requirements set by the governmental authority, unhappy parents would have a far more difficult time proving malpractice on your part.

One of the key requirements concerns staff. Because of the presence of pedophiles, many states require that owner/operators of daycares undergo a criminal background check. In fact, many states require that staff members of daycares also pass a criminal background check. This would include checking the names of staff members against the sexual offenders list. Having to undergo such a check is important, for the safety of the children and for the peace of mind of the parents.

Regulations also determine the maximum number of children that are to be supervised by each individual. In other words, the regulations will determine how many staff members you’ll have to hire once you become successful. This number often varies by the ages of the children involved. The regulations assume that it is more difficult to properly supervise and attend infants and toddlers than it is to supervise pre-schoolers. To start, you may only be tending 3 or 4 children in your daycare service, but unless you’re satisfied with that number as a maximum, you’ll want to expand your business, taking in even more children. You must bring in and train new staff members before the number of children exceeds the legal maximum. You don’t want to find yourself in violation of the regulations, especially if the authorities decide to perform a surprise inspection on your business.

The training requirements for staff members are also regulated by the various daycare laws and regulations. Many states require that staff members be certified in first aid. Some states require that staff members and operators of daycare services receive training in early childhood development and education, in order to ensure that the daycare isn’t merely a “warehouse” for kids, but that it will help nurture them and prepare them for when they enter school. Additional courses may be necessary in treatment of illnesses and injuries as well.

Many authorities have regulations that dictate the minimum amount of play space required for each child. This rule is in effect in order to prevent unscrupulous daycare providers from keeping 6 or 7 kids in a small room for 8 hours a day. There are also requirements dictating how much outdoor playtime is required, and the types of apparatus that are permissible.

As we can see, starting a daycare service is a lot more than just deciding to babysit neighborhood kids and posting notices in the local supermarket. The daycare service industry is regulated by government to protect and nurture children, and to reassure parents that minimum standards are maintained. One can find out what the legal requirements for daycare service providers are in your area by contacting the government department responsible for families and children, or by visiting your government’s website and doing a search for daycare laws and regulations.

The onus is on you, as a potential daycare service provider, to do the necessary research and to know the legal requirements before you start your daycare business.

PART – fourteen

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS FROM RESERCHERS

Based on our interviews and secondary analyses, we make a number of recommendations about ways to improve the management and delivery of child development services on military installations. Our recommendations are based on the perspective of military child care as employer-sponsored child care, which implies that child care programs must benefit the employer as well as enhance the welfare of the children who receive services.

01. Administrators should be educated about child care quality

Overestimates of Day Care Service quality were common in our visits, and resulted at least in part from lack of experience with a range of child care settings, particularly exemplary ones. Education of command and child development staff about what constitutes quality would address this problem and perhaps increase motivation to improve the quality of care. Such education could occur by visits to model settings and through briefings, perhaps at commander conferences. The Demonstration Program for Accredited Centers mandated as part of the holds promise as a means of identifying program models that appear to be effective in fostering child development.

02. The goals of Day Care Service should be specified and efforts made to address these goals through Day Care Service operations and priorities.

The goals of military child care are multiple and at times inconsistent. Our respondents described many goals, including readiness, family economic well-being, retention in the service, increased parental work efficiency, parental peace of mind, respite for parents, enrichment for children, and an enhanced image for the military that might translate into improved recruitment. The multiplicity of goals reflects different child care constituencies and the failure of policymakers to clarify which groups and which needs it will satisfy. It is important to clarify the goals of the Day Care Service system, and to act to ensure that the goals are expressed in practice. For example, if readiness is a key priority, then priority for child care should reflect the readiness goal. Retired military, who do not contribute to current readiness, should be given a lower Day Care Service priority than, for example, civilians in key jobs on the installation. Efforts to provide regular care in settings consistent with readiness, for example, directing single parents to Fixed Day Care, should be made. A systemic approach to the provision of care, in which a key system goal is filling gaps in regular care, should be undertaken.

Efforts to reassess and monitor priorities should, to the extent possible, include specific goals for meeting child care needs. Such targets will provide a yardstick against which the Day Care Service system can be evaluated. Without specific goals, it is impossible to evaluate how well the system is working; specific goals also make planning easier.

03. Recommendations for developing child care services – Coverage and Quality

Coverage – making care continuously available

Day Care service is a program for childcare, addressing children from birth to 10 years. While childcare services for the preschoolers from 3 to 6 represent nowadays normality, there is still a sometimes dramatic gap when it comes to services for the 0 to 3 old children; in a number of countries as well systems of reliable full day school- care, including care during school holidays, is missing. It should be therefore a first priority goal to extend considerably, wherever needed, the number of places in crèches or other facilities for the 0 to 3, having in mind, that there is a recommendation for reaching a coverage rate of 30% in Bangladesh. Next to that, those countries, where school systems do not entail the task of providing services and care for younger pupils 6 – 10 beyond the morning core school-hours should rapidly develop such offers.

Beyond its wide coverage, one of the main characteristics of the Swedish childcare system is its institutional seamlessness. In Sweden, care is normally provided for 1-6 year olds at the same facility. Generally, children thus remain at the same place throughout their preschool years. At larger i.e. most municipal or non-public for-profit facilities, the only physical and social transition they have to experience is the internal move from younger to older age groups. At smaller facilities, age groups tend to be integrated. This makes for more stable and long-term relationships both between the children themselves and between the families and facilities. Pedagogically as well as socially, the model is strongly oriented towards continuity and coherence.

There are no radical points of rupture within childcare practice. Extending thereby the usual period in care may also increase the parental motivation to invest in involvement. Without sufficient coverage for children younger and older than the usually covered age of 3 to 6 there is a clear deficit of possibilities for parents to plan for their respective balance of work and family tasks, thereby devaluating what might have been already achieved with respect to the age group 3-6. Furthermore it should be taken in mind, that facilities for the age groups mentioned before have a strong link with educational and equity linked purposes, given the fact, that especially early child care of good quality can be a reliable contribution to the childrens’ personal development; especially children from difficult family and community backgrounds can profit from early professional care and an enlarged and more diversified offer of care and services in school.

However, especially policies for early childhood care (0 to 6) have to respect the fact, that many parents do not want in this phase of family life make regular use of continuous institutional provision. A considerable part of them prefers to do the bulk of care work themselves. A more family-centered pattern of early childcare has been supported in many countries by various regulations such as legislation for parental leave and special child care allowances.

These recommendations do in general not discuss the issue of allowances for families versus developing service-networks at their disposal nor the wide issue of making working life and times more family friendly. Nevertheless it must be stated that – especially with respect to the 0 to 3year old children, there is a policy dilemma. Policies that want to guarantee full and guaranteed choice result in a considerable burden. Foreseeing financial and regulatory provision for both alternatives, parental care including the respective labour market regulations and child care allowances, as well as more care by professional service is a costly endeavour.

However, besides this it should be underlined that especially with respect to early childcare 0 – 3 parents may frequently need different types of support and service qualities: e.g. services that can be used only from time to time, without bureaucratic prerequisites and services that correspond as well to needs others than to look for the children, supporting parents, helping them to get together, give advice and consultancy on various concerns of young families.

Types of services: making a new generation of services take shape

The diversity of services has increased and wherever this is meeting the needs of users, such a trend should be strengthened. This holds especially true for the aim of overcoming a sharp division between collective professional services on the one and informal family care on the other hand. In between of these extreme points, the offers of child minders, parent-child initiatives, and support and counseling services can strengthen and multiply the bridges between the private and public dimensions of child care.

In the presence of childcare pedagogues who encourage participation and mediate the relationships which arise and develop. The places are equipped with toys similar to a crèche. The aim is the integration not only of children but also of adults, as well as parenthood support. What has become visible is a new generation of services that deserves more support and

attention. There is need for

– More services open for being used to varying intensity and according to different time patterns

– More services that can be used casually from time to time

– More services that are available even at quite unconventional hours

The Family service is a very successful private agency that acts as a broker of childcare. Contracted in usually by large and medium-sized enterprises, it offers a wide range of family support services to the employees of the respective firm. Most often however, it helps women to find childcare solutions which are individually tailored to their specific needs and guarantee the flexibility and reliability that enables them to follow their career path. To this purpose, it helps to find out about existing childcare places closes gaps in provision by maintaining and qualifying an own pool of day mothers, au-pairs, nannies, and baby-sitters helps to organize and supervise complex care arrangements, and mediates the setting-up of parent initiatives and workplace services.

Founded in 1992, it is meanwhile represented in all big German cities and has expanded to other European countries.

– More services aimed at managing individually tailored care arrangements for best possible compromises between child- and parent-centred goals, issues of child care and development, issues of staying in touch with ones’ networks, labour market participation and career issues.

The quality of day care for children is however more than the sum of the qualities of individual facilities:

– Better quality calls for a networking of different types of facilities, with some of them being complementary.

– A good integration with the school system is needed, especially since in many aspects early child care systems must be seen increasingly as parts of the wider landscape of education.

– Finally, with the diversity of services increasing, parents need more transparency on local child care markets be it by information on the internet, central agencies offering advice, information or brokerage; the more parents are seen as well as customers that make choices, the more important it is to work on what economists call information asymmetries.

A special challenge will be to achieve a fair balance between the interests of children, parents

and governments; this is concerning especially

– The balance between facilities that save time for working parents without offering too much for children on the one hand and offers that concentrate on high quality care, pedagogies and education for the children themselves, on the other hand

– The balance between the interest of children and parents in good caring-, living- and working time – patterns and the widespread drain into a constant availability for labour market career and consumer purposes.

Skilled Professionals

Training levels and working conditions that meet the quality standards requested in child care. This is calling for concepts of professionalism that entail the ability to develop such partnerships and to answer the quest for new and additional qualities concerning e.g. pedagogical and educational issues; in some countries this may call for a higher level of education and training as well as a higher level of payments.

The financial and material working conditions should work against a high turnover of staff, which often mirrors problems like being underpaid, overworked or excluded from participation. Beyond qualified and motivated staff, better service quality needs a minimal degree of surplus resources in order to allow professional staff not only to keep an achieved standard, but to innovate and test improvements that may be generalized later on.

Finally working conditions in child care should be such that they allow for real careers, i.e. the possibility of additional training and phases of qualification at later stages of ones’ working life.

Beside these two classical dimensions of special needs and lacking coverage, other ones have won impact in many instances

– The link between lone parenthood and poverty is to a great deal determined by access both to paid work, work integration, social support and child care services; while child care support for lone parents who look for work is of high importance, it must be discussed to what degree it should be allowed to put pressure on lone parents with smaller children to hand more care over to professionals in order to be able to re-integrate into a working life, that is – especially at the lower ends of labour markets – often detrimental to the workers’ possibilities to meet children’s needs and the rights on a family life.

– Child care services are a central part but not the (total) solution for a reduction of the tensions between work and social and family life. Making working time patterns more family friendly is of equal importance; to get there is however especially difficult in those segments of the labour market where parents with lower qualifications will have to seek work; it must be underlined that access to flexible care services is of special importance for many jobless or working mothers in need.

References: In England, the governments’ Childcare Strategy with its goal to tackle social disadvantage among children and parents via childcare services has created new types of services: Early Excellence Centers have been set up in England since 1997. They are especially targeted to disadvantaged areas, aiming to cater for the multiple needs of young children and families on the site and to disseminate good practice in childcare. The Early Excellence Centre described in the case study from England is one of roughly 100 similar government initiatives across the country. It provides integrated multiservice, such as integrated education and day care for children, a teenage mother baby care unit, an after school club, a supplementary school for ethnic minority children, a stay and play facility, a family room, training programs for disadvantaged parents (parenting skills, nutrition etc., but also labour market oriented training programs), and health visitors. Professionals with training backgrounds in health, education, and social services are working together. For the work of the Centre community building goals and a holistic approach to children and their families are central. The latter involves working in close partnership with the parents. In the particular Centre, part of it also is to provide opportunities for them to work and train.

The Centre is perceived as being a crucial means of integrating parents into the community.

– Simultaneously, policies should work on the apparent contradiction that often the most flexible childcare solutions are, due to their higher costs – not available to those who may need this most.

– The vulnerability of families shows today many different faces, like isolation, forced mobility pressures that call for personal and individualized support services. Many families feel insecure or overburdened by the challenges of care and education; this creates a special need for childcare services that take on a wider role in supporting parents in the education of their children, in raising their skills, and in strengthening social networks around families.

– Ethnic pluralism is a special challenge and there is no general easy formula when it comes to debate whether or not ethnic minorities should run their own facilities in childcare or be integrated in facilities that are open for all local citizens. Yet the need to reach out for families with a different cultural or ethnic background at an early age of their children presents a challenge in all the countries.

– Already today thinly populated regions represent a special challenge; they call for smaller facilities that can be reached in a reasonable time or for special solutions.

Summing up, one can say that policies for child care services in most countries have to undergo a double transition. First of all they must turn from rather patchy offers meant foremost to relieve working mothers over to a regular service that underlines its unique role for early childhood development by including pedagogical and educational tasks.

Secondly, they must turn from a collective institution addressing children to a system that is in touch with the educational system and includes a variety of services that address families as well – both as a resource and as a system of persons that need and deserve support themselves.

In such a perspective the various faces of inequality call not only for a wider coverage, but as well for special and personal arrangements and support services. This altogether is representing widening challenges and potentials for professionals, their training levels and perspectives of developing satisfying work and career patterns in child care.

04. Provide More Flexible Care

Our interview data point to strict implementation of sick child exclusion policies in the Day Care Service as a major contributor to lost work time. We recommend that consideration be given to the revision of sick child exclusion policies along the lines of new guidelines. Based on evidence that the exclusion of children with mild illnesses may serve little preventive function, such guidelines encourage children who are only mildly ill and feeling reasonably well to be allowed to continue in group care.

Examination of other approaches to providing employer-sponsored child care in situations that are similar to the military would also be worthwhile. A number of civilian employers have established programs to serve the children of such employees. Analysis of these programs would shed light on new options that might provide more flexible care for military families.

05. The measurement of demand should be standardized and the cost per slot of care in Day Care Service determined.

The Day Care Service system needs to improve both the way it measures demand and the way that costs are assessed and resources allocated. Fundamental to improved demand assessment is the need to understand more clearly the demand for child care and the meaning of ubiquitous waiting lists. As discussed above, waiting lists may include parents who cannot work because unsubsidized care is not available, families whose current care is suboptimal in terms of quality, and parents who prefer subsidized care because it is less expensive and perhaps more convenient. On a few installations, policy on this point had been established; often, it specified that the installation had an obligation to offer military child care to all families, but not their first choice. In most places, however, the issue remained unaddressed.

Recommendation from working women

Basically, there are two types of women who works in offices. One, who are educated and who are uneducated, educated women generally engaged with either public job or private job. And uneducated women generally work in garments or factory or such type of establishment.

It is great sorrow that there is no single enactment for the public official. There is no direction for the special treatment for the women employees. A women employee is entitled to get the maternity leave with financial benefits. But is six month enough to a baby to live without mother for whole the day time?

The answer is exclusively NO.

But there is no direction about their child’s care. For this reason such women can’t give concentration on work. And besides it, such baby cant get mother’s care properly, which is violation of child rights.

We discussed with two Government official regarding this and their recommendations are as follows;

Ferdousi Khan: Ferdousi Khan is an executive magistrate. She recommends follows,

1. Government should arrange Child Day care in every government office with

providing proper care

2. Government should provide sufficient care for a reasonable fees, if needed.

3. in such Child Day Care Center, only the concerned office’s official’s baby get

chance.

4. such Child Day Care Center shall be established in same premises with the

office.

5. Such Child Day Care center shoul be equipped with sufficient indoor and out

games and all the facilities shall be there and the age limit of a baby to allow

there is 0 – 6 years.

Mazeda Karim: Mazeda Karim is Assistant Sub Inspector of Bangladesh Police. She recommends as follows;

1. government should establish Child Day Care center for the babies of female

employee, especially, for the age of 0-5 years.

2. Government should arrange a Child Day Care Center in every police

station.

3. Government should not engaged women in far operation when her child is

below 3 years old and in center.

4. In Centers, there shall be sufficient facilities and games for the babies.

5. There shall be sufficient facility to build up morality and educational

background.

There is a labour law which is for nongovernmental employee and such law is not applied to Government employee. Basically, labour law recommends to establish child day care center in every establishment for the children of women employees.

We discussed with two women, who works in nongovernmental office.

Khadiza Begum: Khadiza Begum is an executive of a private owned bank named Jamuna Bank, appointed in Gazipur Branch. She lives in Uttara and she have a child of two years.

1. Every office should have a child day care center, it may be small but it

should have.

2. In case of question of other facilities of child day care center, she answered

first the center is needed.

3. Then she said, only proper care with a educated, well manner nanny is

enough.

Rabeya Banu: Rabeya Banu is a Garments worker.

1. She did not what is child day care center and also did not know that it is

their right to get such facility.

2. She recommend, every garments should establish such center for the

children of workers

3. She said, there should have facility to breast feeding to the baby by

mother

4. She also recommend that such center should be as near as possible from

the working place.

Recommendation from husband of working women

Parents are conscious about the development and growth of child. And when mother is service-holder, it is tough to maintain proper care by parents. At such circumstance, parents have to depend on nanny or house maid, which is totally risky to child in their behavioral growth.

For this reason, husbands are also interested to get facilities child day care in their office or wife’s office.

We have discussed with three officials about this subject matter.

Md. Abidur Rahman:

Mr. Abidur Rahman is a banker, services in Jamauna Bank. He lives in Tongi and has a child of 3 years and his wife also a college lecturer.

His recommendations are as follows;

01. Every office should have child day care center for the children of employee.

02. With the office duty, every employee has a family and they have some responsibility on

family also. For this reason, every officials are tensed about his or her child, if any. For

remove such tension and for better life of their child they have to depend on house

maid or nanny. But it is also risky.

03. Whatever for the male officials but for the female officials should have child day care

facility.

04. Child Day Care Center should provide proper care, it’s enough.

Md. Ali Monsur: Mr. Ali Monsur is an executive of a buying house and his wife is a bank executive. His recommendation is as follows;

01. He recommends that every office should have at least a child day care center

intended to care the children of employee.

02. According to Ali Monsur, providing sufficient caring is enough for the child day

care center for the employee

03. Obviously, such caring should be charged a reasonable fees.

Md. Anisur Rahman: Md Anisur Rahman is the businessman and his wife is a school teacher. He has a baby of 2.5 years old and his baby is deprived from proper caring.

01. He thinks, school can provide caring facilities for the child of employees.

02. Only caring is enough service.

From the above statements, it is realized that all from all society demands the child day care centers for the betterment of their child future.

Part – Fifteen

Conclusion

This study was undertaken to identify ways in which to improve the provision of child development services in Bangladesh. To better understand the Child Day Care Service, we visited some office and child day care center in Dhaka, and interviewed a wide range of people involved with child care. Our data revealed an ambitious system of employer-sponsored child care that is far more progressive than that provided by the vast majority of private employers. At the same time, we identified a number of areas in which improvements could be made that would benefit parents, children, and the country.

The principles underlying day care service–that one’s service responsibilities can, if necessary, take precedence over all other responsibilities, including parenting, and that service responsibilities may involve long hours and odd hours and create significant challenges to the provision of child care.

Increasing numbers of working spouses, single parents, and dual working parents further complicate the task. As currently structured, the challenges in the delivery of child care include tradeoffs between the construction of service facilities and child development centers, between child care for the few and recreational services for the many, between limiting center child care hours for the sake of breaking even and knowing that those hours sometimes do not allow parents to fulfill their service responsibilities.

The question at the outset was: Who benefits from educational and child care services, and what purpose do they serve?

In our answer, you will have noticed that I believe centers are equally at the service of the children, families, educators, the community, and members of society overall. They are there to support the group and ensure the survival of people and the community. In this sense, they must reconcile the interests of all parties and equip the parties to successfully adapt to their environment. They can achieve this by basing decisions and actions on the common good, and by asking themselves whether the decisions made today are good for future generations. When it comes to determining the purpose of child care centers, we think that fundamentally, it is to ensure the survival of our species because they are a place of learning and transmitters of knowledge, skills and values. Child care centers are not alone in this regard; families, schools and the community also play this role. And if child care centers fail to carry out these functions as they should, their members will be unable to successfully adapt to their environment, regardless of whether this is the immediate environment of the child care centre or the larger environment of the community.

And if the family, school or community also fails to teach children how to treat others with empathy and compassion, how to manage their spaces with respect and intelligence, how to be sensitive in their relationships, how to antic ipate the future with hope, and how to act with regard for the common good, then the human species would not survive.

Everything is intrinsically related and it is this concept of the universe that we must transmit to our children. In order to do so, we must be aware ourselves and be messengers. Educators in child care centers must be fully imprinted with this concept and convey it through their attitudes and behaviors. Sensing that one is part of the other and understanding the other can produce tremendous joy and profound happiness because it means that one feels understood and that one is not alone in the world.

References

01. Ministry of Women and children Affairs, Govcernment of Bangladesh. (1997). Report on follow up to the Fourth World Conference of women and Full Implementation of Beijing Declaration.

02. Ministry of Women and children Affairs, Govcernment of Bangladesh. (1997). National Plan for the Implementation of Beijing Platform for Action – Special Session of The UN General Assembly.

03. UN Report of Fifth World Conference on Women, 2005

04. Belsky, Jay and Laurence D Steinberg. 1978. “The Effects of Day Care: A critical

Review.” Child Development 49:929-949.

05. Booth, Cathryn L., K. Alison Clarke-Stewart, Deborah Lowe Vandell, Kathleen

06. Egeland, Byron and Marnie Hiester. 1995. “The Long-Term Consequences of Infant

Day-Care and Mother Infant Attachment.” Child Development 66:474-485.

07. Lamb, Michael. 1996. “Effects of Nonparental Child Care on Child Development: An

Update.” Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 41:330-342

Bibliography

01. Women in Bangladesh, by Nazmunnessa Mahtab

02. Women and Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh, by Dr. K.M. Rezaul Karim & Md. Mafizur Rahman

03. Narir Adhikar, By Shaheen Rahman (2000)

04. Women For Women, Narir Barta. A quarterly Bulletin. Vol. IV, May. 2000

05. Hardy & Fowler (1993). Child care arrangements and repeated ear infections in young children.

06. Wurtele & Schmitt (1992). Childcare workers’ knowledge about reporting suspected child sexual abuse

07. McCartney, and Margaret Tresch Owen. 2002. “Child-Care Usage and Mother-

Infant ‘Quality Time.’” Journal of Marriage and Family 64:16-26

08. Belsky, Jay and Laurence D Steinberg. 2009. “The Effects of Day Care: A critical

Review.” Child Development.

Action Plan

To implement the out come of this research, a codified law for child day care is needed. Which law shall be applied for all classes of people, that means a standard law for day care for child.

And the drafted copy of proposed legislation is the vital path of Action Plan. The drafted bill is annexed with this research.

The Child Day Care Act, 2011

(Proposed Drafted Bill)

Preamble:

Whereas, parents are always on the look out for child care facilities that will give them assurance that the personnel who will care for their children are qualified, this Act is for assurance of service of Child Day Care centre.

Section 01. This act shall be called as Child Day Care Act, 2011 and it shall come into force from the date of approval.

Section 02. This Act shall be applicable whole over Bangladesh.

Section 03. License

A person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation may establish, operate, manage, conduct, or maintain a child day care facility in the Bangladesh.

Section 04. Application For a License

Any adult may apply for a license regardless of age, sex, race, religion, color, political affiliation, national origin, disability, marital status, actual or perceived sexual orientation, or ancestry. Any adult, partnership, corporation, county, city, public agency or other governmental entity wishing to obtain a license shall fill out and file with the Department of Social Services, State of California, an Application Booklet, as well as other documentary requirements.

Prior to filing a License Application and the documentation required, the applicant(s) shall attend an orientation provided by the Department, which shall cover the steps in completing the application process and the regulatory powers of the Department.

The license application and supporting documents shall together contain the following:

Proposed name and address of the child care facility.
Name, residence and mailing addresses of applicant.
If the applicant is leasing or renting for the child care center, a copy of the lease or rental agreement and the name, address, and telephone number of the property owner.
What category of child care center is to be operated.
Proposed number of children to be admitted.
Age range of children to be served children
Name of administrator.
A plan of operation that must be submitted to the Department with the license application. The plan and related materials shall contain the following:

Statement of purposes, and program methods and goals.
Statement of admission policies and procedures.
A copy of the admission agreement.
Applicable administrative organization.
Staffing plan, qualifications and duties, if applicable.
Plan for the in-service education of staff if required by regulations governing the specific child care center category.

Fingerprint cards as required by the Criminal Record Clearance.
The processing fee for an application.
Water supply clearance
Any other information as may be required by the government for the proper administration and enforcement of the law.

The application shall be signed by the applicant. If the applicant is a partnership, the application shall be signed by each partner. If the applicant is a corporation, county, city, public agency or other government entity, the application shall be signed by the chief executive officer.

Section 05. Fingerprinting Requirement

All individuals subject to criminal record review shall be fingerprinted and sign a Criminal Record Statement under penalty of perjury.

Section 06.Fire Clearance

All child care centers shall secure and maintain a fire clearance approved by the government from, the district fire protection services.

Section 07. WATER SUPPLY CLEARANCE

As a condition for initial licensing, the applicant shall provide evidence of an onsite inspection of the source of the water and a bacteriological analysis that establishes the safety of the water.

Section 08. LICENSING FEES

An application fee, adjusted by facility and capacity, shall be charged by the Government for the issuance of a license to operate a child day care facility.

Section 09. QUALIFICATIONS OF ADMINISTRATOR

The licensee, if an individual or any member of the governing board of the licensed corporation, may be the administrator of the child care center provided he meets the following qualifications:

Must be at least 18 years of age.
Knowledge of the requirements for providing the type of care and supervision children need, and the ability to communicate with such children.
Knowledge and ability to comply with applicable laws and regulations.
Ability to establish the center’s policy, program and budget.

Section 10. Teacher Child Ratio

There shall be a ratio of one teacher visually observing and supervising no more than 12 children in attendance.

Section 11. Child’s Medical Assessment

There shall be a medical unit for the center.

Section 12. Child’s Records

(a) The licensee shall see to it that a separate, complete and current record for each child is maintained in the child care center.

(b) Each record shall contain information including, but not limited to the following:

Name of child.
Birth date.
Sex.
Date of admission.
Name, address and telephone number of the child’s guardian.
A signed copy of the admission agreement.

Section 13. Outdoor Activity Space

(a) There should be at least 75 square feet per child of outdoor activity space based on the total licensed capacity.

(b) Swimming pools and adjacent deck, natural or man-made hazards such as canals, cliffs, condemned buildings, etc. shall not be included in the calculation of outdoor activity space.

Section 14. Indoor Activity Space

(a). There should be at least 35 square feet of indoor activity space per child based on the total licensed capacity of the child care center.

(b). Bathrooms, halls, offices, isolation areas, food-preparation areas and storage places, floor space occupied by shelves, permanent built-in cabinets, and office equipment shall not be included in the calculation of indoor activity space.

(c) Floor area under tables, desks, chairs and other equipment intended for use as part of children’s activities are to be included in the calculation of indoor activity space.

Section 15. Drinking Water

Day care center shall have facility to provide pure drinking water

Section 16. Penalty

(a). Child care centers that do not follow the aforesaid provisions or unable to meet the standards set forth by this Act, their licenses shall be revoked or cancelled.

(b). He shall be imprisoned for not more than 1 years or fine or both.

Preamble

The States Parties to the present Convention,

Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Bearing in mind that the peoples of the United Nations have, in the Charter, reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person, and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Recognizing that the United Nations has, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenants on Human Rights, proclaimed and agreed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status,

Recalling that, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations has proclaimed that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance,

Convinced that the family, as the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children, should be afforded the necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the community,

Recognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding,

Considering that the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity,

Bearing in mind that the need to extend particular care to the child has been stated in the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1924 and in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted by the General Assembly on 20 November 1959 and recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (in particular in articles 23 and 24), in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (in particular in article 10) and in the statutes and relevant instruments of specialized agencies and international organizations concerned with the welfare of children,

Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”,

Recalling the provisions of the Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to Foster Placement and Adoption Nationally and Internationally; the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules); and the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict, Recognizing that, in all countries in the world, there are children living in exceptionally difficult conditions, and that such children need special consideration,

Taking due account of the importance of the traditions and cultural values of each people for the protection and harmonious development of the child, Recognizing the importance of international co-operation for improving the living conditions of children in every country, in particular in the developing countries,

Have agreed as follows:

PART I

Article 1

For the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.

Article 2

1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child’s or his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child’s parents, legal guardians, or family members.

Article 3

1. In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.

2. States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures.

3. States Parties shall ensure that the institutions, services and facilities responsible for the care or protection of children shall conform with the standards established by competent authorities, particularly in the areas of safety, health, in the number and suitability of their staff, as well as competent supervision.

Article 4

States Parties shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, States Parties shall undertake such measures to the maximum extent of their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international co-operation.

Article 5

States Parties shall respect the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents or, where applicable, the members of the extended family or community as provided for by local custom, legal guardians or other persons legally responsible for the child, to provide, in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child, appropriate direction and guidance in the exercise by the child of the rights recognized in the present Convention.

Article 6

1. States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life.

2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.

Article 7

1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.

2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.

Article 8

1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.

2. Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity.

Article 9

1. States Parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. Such determination may be necessary in a particular case such as one involving abuse or neglect of the child by the parents, or one where the parents are living separately and a decision must be made as to the child’s place of residence.

2. In any proceedings pursuant to paragraph 1 of the present article, all interested parties shall be given an opportunity to participate in the proceedings and make their views known.

3. States Parties shall respect the right of the child who is separated from one or both parents to maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, except if it is contrary to the child’s best interests.

4. Where such separation results from any action initiated by a State Party, such as the detention, imprisonment, exile, deportation or death (including death arising from any cause while the person is in the custody of the State) of one or both parents or of the child, that State Party shall, upon request, provide the parents, the child or, if appropriate, another member of the family with the essential information concerning the whereabouts of the absent member(s) of the family unless the provision of the information would be detrimental to the well-being of the child. States Parties shall further ensure that the submission of such a request shall of itself entail no adverse consequences for the person(s) concerned.

Article 10

1. In accordance with the obligation of States Parties under article 9, paragraph 1, applications by a child or his or her parents to enter or leave a State Party for the purpose of family reunification shall be dealt with by States Parties in a positive, humane and expeditious manner. States Parties shall further ensure that the submission of such a request shall entail no adverse consequences for the applicants and for the members of their family.

2. A child whose parents reside in different States shall have the right to maintain on a regular basis, save in exceptional circumstances personal relations and direct contacts with both parents. Towards that end and in accordance with the obligation of States Parties under article 9, paragraph 1, States Parties shall respect the right of the child and his or her parents to leave any country, including their own, and to enter their own country. The right to leave any country shall be subject only to such restrictions as are prescribed by law and which are necessary to protect the national security, public order (ordre public), public health or morals or the rights and freedoms of others and are consistent with the other rights recognized in the present Convention.

Article 11

1. States Parties shall take measures to combat the illicit transfer and non-return of children abroad.

2. To this end, States Parties shall promote the conclusion of bilateral or multilateral agreements or accession to existing agreements.

Article 12

1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.

Article 13

1. The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice.

2. The exercise of this right may be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:

(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; or

(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.

Article 14

1. States Parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

2. States Parties shall respect the rights and duties of the parents and, when applicable, legal guardians, to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her right in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child.

3. Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.

Article 15

1. States Parties recognize the rights of the child to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful assembly.

2. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of these rights other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Article 16

1. No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation.

2. The child has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 17

States Parties recognize the important function performed by the mass media and shall ensure that the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health.

To this end, States Parties shall:

(a) Encourage the mass media to disseminate information and material of social and cultural benefit to the child and in accordance with the spirit of article 29;

(b) Encourage international co-operation in the production, exchange and dissemination of such information and material from a diversity of cultural, national and international sources;

(d) Encourage the mass media to have particular regard to the linguistic needs of the child who belongs to a minority group or who is indigenous;

(e) Encourage the development of appropriate guidelines for the protection of the child from information and material injurious to his or her well-being, bearing in mind the provisions of articles 13 and 18.

Article 18

1. States Parties shall use their best efforts to ensure recognition of the principle that both parents have common responsibilities for the upbringing and development of the child. Parents or, as the case may be, legal guardians, have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of the child. The best interests of the child will be their basic concern.

2. For the purpose of guaranteeing and promoting the rights set forth in the present Convention, States Parties shall render appropriate assistance to parents and legal guardians in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities and shall ensure the development of institutions, facilities and services for the care of children.

3. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that children of working parents have the right to benefit from child-care services and facilities for which they are eligible.

Article 19

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.

2. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.

Article 20

1. A child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment, or in whose own best interests cannot be allowed to remain in that environment, shall be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the State.

2. States Parties shall in accordance with their national laws ensure alternative care for such a child.

3. Such care could include, inter alia, foster placement, kafalah of Islamic law, adoption or if necessary placement in suitable institutions for the care of children. When considering solutions, due regard shall be paid to the desirability of continuity in a child’s upbringing and to the child’s ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background.

Article 21

States Parties that recognize and/or permit the system of adoption shall ensure that the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration and they shall:

(a) Ensure that the adoption of a child is authorized only by competent authorities who determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures and on the basis of all pertinent and reliable information, that the adoption is permissible in view of the child’s status concerning parents, relatives and legal guardians and that, if required, the persons concerned have given their informed consent to the adoption on the basis of such counselling as may be necessary;

(b) Recognize that inter-country adoption may be considered as an alternative means of child’s care, if the child cannot be placed in a foster or an adoptive family or cannot in any suitable manner be cared for in the child’s country of origin;

(c) Ensure that the child concerned by inter-country adoption enjoys safeguards and standards equivalent to those existing in the case of national adoption;

(d) Take all appropriate measures to ensure that, in inter-country adoption, the placement does not result in improper financial gain for those involved in it;

(e) Promote, where appropriate, the objectives of the present article by concluding bilateral or multilateral arrangements or agreements, and endeavour, within this framework, to ensure that the placement of the child in another country is carried out by competent authorities or organs.

Article 22

1. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that a child who is seeking refugee status or who is considered a refugee in accordance with applicable international or domestic law and procedures shall, whether unaccompanied or accompanied by his or her parents or by any other person, receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance in the enjoyment of applicable rights set forth in the present Convention and in other international human rights or humanitarian instruments to which the said States are Parties.

2. For this purpose, States Parties shall provide, as they consider appropriate, co-operation in any efforts by the United Nations and other competent intergovernmental organizations or non-governmental organizations co-operating with the United Nations to protect and assist such a child and to trace the parents or other members of the family of any refugee child in order to obtain information necessary for reunification with his or her family. In cases where no parents or other members of the family can be found, the child shall be accorded the same protection as any other child permanently or temporarily deprived of his or her family environment for any reason , as set forth in the present Convention.

Article 23

1. States Parties recognize that a mentally or physically disabled child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate the child’s active participation in the community.

2. States Parties recognize the right of the disabled child to special care and shall encourage and ensure the extension, subject to available resources, to the eligible child and those responsible for his or her care, of assistance for which application is made and which is appropriate to the child’s condition and to the circumstances of the parents or others caring for the child.

3. Recognizing the special needs of a disabled child, assistance extended in accordance with paragraph 2 of the present article shall be provided free of charge, whenever possible, taking into account the financial resources of the parents or others caring for the child, and shall be designed to ensure that the disabled child has effective access to and receives education, training, health care services, rehabilitation services, preparation for employment and recreation opportunities in a manner conducive to the child’s achieving the fullest possible social integration and individual development, including his or her cultural and spiritual development

4. States Parties shall promote, in the spirit of international cooperation, the exchange of appropriate information in the field of preventive health care and of medical, psychological and functional treatment of disabled children, including dissemination of and access to information concerning methods of rehabilitation, education and vocational services, with the aim of enabling States Parties to improve their capabilities and skills and to widen their experience in these areas. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.

Article 24

1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.

2. States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures:

(a) To diminish infant and child mortality;

(b) To ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care;

(c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution;

(d) To ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers;

(e) To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents;

(f) To develop preventive health care, guidance for parents and family planning education and services.

3. States Parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.

4. States Parties undertake to promote and encourage international co-operation with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the right recognized in the present article. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.

Article 25

States Parties recognize the right of a child who has been placed by the competent authorities for the purposes of care, protection or treatment of his or her physical or mental health, to a periodic review of the treatment provided to the child and all other circumstances relevant to his or her placement.

Article 26

1. States Parties shall recognize for every child the right to benefit from social security, including social insurance, and shall take the necessary measures to achieve the full realization of this right in accordance with their national law.

2. The benefits should, where appropriate, be granted, taking into account the resources and the circumstances of the child and persons having responsibility for the maintenance of the child, as well as any other consideration relevant to an application for benefits made by or on behalf of the child.

Article 27

1. States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.

2. The parent(s) or others responsible for the child have the primary responsibility to secure, within their abilities and financial capacities, the conditions of living necessary for the child’s development.

3. States Parties, in accordance with national conditions and within their means, shall take appropriate measures to assist parents and others responsible for the child to implement this right and shall in case of need provide material assistance and support programmes, particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing.

4. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to secure the recovery of maintenance for the child from the parents or other persons having financial responsibility for the child, both within the State Party and from abroad. In particular, where the person having financial responsibility for the child lives in a State different from that of the child, States Parties shall promote the accession to international agreements or the conclusion of such agreements, as well as the making of other appropriate arrangements.

Article 28

1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:

(a) Make primary education compulsory and available free to all;

(b) Encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need;

(d) Make educational and vocational information and guidance available and accessible to all children;

(e) Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that school discipline is administered in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity and in conformity with the present Convention.

3. States Parties shall promote and encourage international cooperation in matters relating to education, in particular with a view to contributing to the elimination of ignorance and illiteracy throughout the world and facilitating access to scientific and technical knowledge and modern teaching methods. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.

Article 29

1. States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:

(a) The development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential;

(b) The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;

(c) The development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own;

(d) The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin;

(e) The development of respect for the natural environment.

2. No part of the present article or article 28 shall be construed so as to interfere with the liberty of individuals and bodies to establish and direct educational institutions, subject always to the observance of the principle set forth in paragraph 1 of the present article and to the requirements that the education given in such institutions shall conform to such minimum standards as may be laid down by the State.

Article 30

In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.

Article 31

1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

2. States Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity.

Article 32

1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.

2. States Parties shall take legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to ensure the implementation of the present article. To this end, and having regard to the relevant provisions of other international instruments, States Parties shall in particular:

(a) Provide for a minimum age or minimum ages for admission to employment;

(b) Provide for appropriate regulation of the hours and conditions of employment;

Article 33

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislative, administrative, social and educational measures, to protect children from the illicit use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances as defined in the relevant international treaties, and to prevent the use of children in the illicit production and trafficking of such substances.

Article 34

States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent:

(a) The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity;

(b) The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices;

Article 35

States Parties shall take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form.

Article 36

States Parties shall protect the child against all other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child’s welfare.

Article 37

States Parties shall ensure that:

(a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age;

(b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time;

(c) Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age. In particular, every child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child’s best interest not to do so and shall have the right to maintain contact with his or her family through correspondence and visits, save in exceptional circumstances;

(d) Every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty before a court or other competent, independent and impartial authority, and to a prompt decision on any such action.

Article 38

1. States Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for rules of international humanitarian law applicable to them in armed conflicts which are relevant to the child.

2. States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities.

3. States Parties shall refrain from recruiting any person who has not attained the age of fifteen years into their armed forces. In recruiting among those persons who have attained the age of fifteen years but who have not attained the age of eighteen years, States Parties shall endeavour to give priority to those who are oldest.

4. In accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population in armed conflicts, States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure protection and care of children who are affected by an armed conflict.

Article 39

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of: any form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse; torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; or armed conflicts. Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child.

Article 40

1. States Parties recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child’s respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child’s age and the desirability of promoting the child’s reintegration and the child’s assuming a constructive role in society.

2. To this end, and having regard to the relevant provisions of international instruments, States Parties shall, in particular, ensure that:

(a) No child shall be alleged as, be accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law by reason of acts or omissions that were not prohibited by national or international law at the time they were committed;

(b) Every child alleged as or accused of having infringed the penal law has at least the following guarantees:

(i) To be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law;

(ii) To be informed promptly and directly of the charges against him or her, and, if appropriate, through his or her parents or legal guardians, and to have legal or other appropriate assistance in the preparation and presentation of his or her defence;

(iii) To have the matter determined without delay by a competent, independent and impartial authority or judicial body in a fair hearing according to law, in the presence of legal or other appropriate assistance and, unless it is considered not to be in the best interest of the child, in particular, taking into account his or her age or situation, his or her parents or legal guardians;

(iv) Not to be compelled to give testimony or to confess guilt; to examine or have examined adverse witnesses and to obtain the participation and examination of witnesses on his or her behalf under conditions of equality;

(v) If considered to have infringed the penal law, to have this decision and any measures imposed in consequence thereof reviewed by a higher competent, independent and impartial authority or judicial body according to law;

(vi) To have the free assistance of an interpreter if the child cannot understand or speak the language used;

(vii) To have his or her privacy fully respected at all stages of the proceedings.

3. States Parties shall seek to promote the establishment of laws, procedures, authorities and institutions specifically applicable to children alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law, and, in particular:

(a) The establishment of a minimum age below which children shall be presumed not to have the capacity to infringe the penal law;

(b) Whenever appropriate and desirable, measures for dealing with such children without resorting to judicial proceedings, providing that human rights and legal safeguards are fully respected. 4. A variety of dispositions, such as care, guidance and supervision orders; counselling; probation; foster care; education and vocational training programmes and other alternatives to institutional care shall be available to ensure that children are dealt with in a manner appropriate to their well-being and proportionate both to their circumstances and the offence.

Article 41

Nothing in the present Convention shall affect any provisions which are more conducive to the realization of the rights of the child and which may be contained in:

(a) The law of a State party; or

(b) International law in force for that State.

PART II

Article 42

States Parties undertake to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike.

Article 43

1. For the purpose of examining the progress made by States Parties in achieving the realization of the obligations undertaken in the present Convention, there shall be established a Committee on the Rights of the Child, which shall carry out the functions hereinafter provided.

2. The Committee shall consist of eighteen experts of high moral standing and recognized competence in the field covered by this Convention.1/ The members of the Committee shall be elected by States Parties from among their nationals and shall serve in their personal capacity, consideration being given to equitable geographical distribution, as well as to the principal legal systems.

3. The members of the Committee shall be elected by secret ballot from a list of persons nominated by States Parties. Each State Party may nominate one person from among its own nationals.

4. The initial election to the Committee shall be held no later than six months after the date of the entry into force of the present Convention and thereafter every second year. At least four months before the date of each election, the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall address a letter to States Parties inviting them to submit their nominations within two months. The Secretary-General shall subsequently prepare a list in alphabetical order of all persons thus nominated, indicating States Parties which have nominated them, and shall submit it to the States Parties to the present Convention.

5. The elections shall be held at meetings of States Parties convened by the Secretary-General at United Nations Headquarters. At those meetings, for which two thirds of States Parties shall constitute a quorum, the persons elected to the Committee shall be those who obtain the largest number of votes and an absolute majority of the votes of the representatives of States Parties present and voting.

6. The members of the Committee shall be elected for a term of four years. They shall be eligible for re-election if renominated. The term of five of the members elected at the first election shall expire at the end of two years; immediately after the first election, the names of these five members shall be chosen by lot by the Chairman of the meeting.

7. If a member of the Committee dies or resigns or declares that for any other cause he or she can no longer perform the duties of the Committee, the State Party which nominated the member shall appoint another expert from among its nationals to serve for the remainder of the term, subject to the approval of the Committee.

8. The Committee shall establish its own rules of procedure.

9. The Committee shall elect its officers for a period of two years.

10. The meetings of the Committee shall normally be held at United Nations Headquarters or at any other convenient place as determined by the Committee. The Committee shall normally meet annually. The duration of the meetings of the Committee shall be determined, and reviewed, if necessary, by a meeting of the States Parties to the present Convention, subject to the approval of the General Assembly.

11. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall provide the necessary staff and facilities for the effective performance of the functions of the Committee under the present Convention.

12. With the approval of the General Assembly, the members of the Committee established under the present Convention shall receive emoluments from United Nations resources on such terms and conditions as the Assembly may decide.

Article 44

1. States Parties undertake to submit to the Committee, through the Secretary-General of the United Nations, reports on the measures they have adopted which give effect to the rights recognized herein and on the progress made on the enjoyment of those rights

(a) Within two years of the entry into force of the Convention for the State Party concerned;

(b) Thereafter every five years.

2. Reports made under the present article shall indicate factors and difficulties, if any, affecting the degree of fulfilment of the obligations under the present Convention. Reports shall also contain sufficient information to provide the Committee with a comprehensive understanding of the implementation of the Convention in the country concerned.

3. A State Party which has submitted a comprehensive initial report to the Committee need not, in its subsequent reports submitted in accordance with paragraph 1 (b) of the present article, repeat basic information previously provided.

4. The Committee may request from States Parties further information relevant to the implementation of the Convention.

5. The Committee shall submit to the General Assembly, through the Economic and Social Council, every two years, reports on its activities.

6. States Parties shall make their reports widely available to the public in their own countries.

Article 45

In order to foster the effective implementation of the Convention and to encourage international co-operation in the field covered by the Convention:

(a) The specialized agencies, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and other United Nations organs shall be entitled to be represented at the consideration of the implementation of such provisions of the present Convention as fall within the scope of their mandate. The Committee may invite the specialized agencies, the United Nations Children’s Fund and other competent bodies as it may consider appropriate to provide expert advice on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their respective mandates. The Committee may invite the specialized agencies, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and other United Nations organs to submit reports on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their activities;

(b) The Committee shall transmit, as it may consider appropriate, to the specialized agencies, the United Nations Children’s Fund and other competent bodies, any reports from States Parties that contain a request, or indicate a need, for technical advice or assistance, along with the Committee’s observations and suggestions, if any, on these requests or indications;

(c) The Committee may recommend to the General Assembly to request the Secretary-General to undertake on its behalf studies on specific issues relating to the rights of the child;

(d) The Committee may make suggestions and general recommendations based on information received pursuant to articles 44 and 45 of the present Convention. Such suggestions and general recommendations shall be transmitted to any State Party concerned and reported to the General Assembly, together with comments, if any, from States Parties.

Article 46

The present Convention shall be open for signature by all States.

Article 47

The present Convention is subject to ratification. Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Article 48

The present Convention shall remain open for accession by any State. The instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Article 49

1. The present Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit with the Secretary-General of the United Nations of the twentieth instrument of ratification or accession.

2. For each State ratifying or acceding to the Convention after the deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification or accession, the Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the deposit by such State of its instrument of ratification or accession.

Article 50

1. Any State Party may propose an amendment and file it with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall thereupon communicate the proposed amendment to States Parties, with a request that they indicate whether they favor a conference of States Parties for the purpose of considering and voting upon the proposals. In the event that, within four months from the date of such communication, at least one third of the States Parties favour such a conference, the Secretary-General shall convene the conference under the auspices of the United Nations. Any amendment adopted by a majority of States Parties present and voting at the conference shall be submitted to the General Assembly for approval.

2. An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 1 of the present article shall enter into force when it has been approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations and accepted by a two-thirds majority of States Parties.

3. When an amendment enters into force, it shall be binding on those States Parties which have accepted it, other States Parties still being bound by the provisions of the present Convention and any earlier amendments which they have accepted.

Article 51

1. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall receive and circulate to all States the text of reservations made by States at the time of ratification or accession.

2. A reservation incompatible with the object and purpose of the present Convention shall not be permitted.

3. Reservations may be withdrawn at any time by notification to that effect addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall then inform all States. Such notification shall take effect on the date on which it is received by the Secretary-General

Article 52

A State Party may denounce the present Convention by written notification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Denunciation becomes effective one year after the date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General.

Article 53

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is designated as the depositary of the present Convention.

Article 54

The original of the present Convention, of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In witness thereof the undersigned plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed the present Convention.

1/ The General Assembly, in its resolution 50/155 of 21 December 1995 , approved the amendment to article 43, paragraph 2, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, replacing the word “ten” with the word “eighteen”. The amendment entered into force on 18 November 2002 when it had been accepted by a two-thirds majority of the States parties (128 out of 191).

Statistical tables: explanatory note

The data in these tables gives an overview of the basic social and economic statistics available by country, which directly concern the 0-5 age group and their families.

The Young Child

The status of young children is reported in terms of the under-five mortality rate and the percentage who are malnourished. Under-five mortality not only indicates the probability of a child surviving to the age of five, but also more generally reflects the risk of survivors falling ill. The percentage of malnourished children reflects the level of malnutrition, which both slows physical growth and retards the psycho-social development of the child. It also reflects the health and nutritional situations of all members of the population.

Children under 5: Total number of children, both boys and girls, who have not reachedtheir fifth birthday. (Source: UNICEF)

Under-5 mortality rate: Number of deaths of children under five years of age per 1000 live births. (Source: UNICEF)

Malnourished children under 5: Percentage of children, under the age of five, below minus two standard deviations from median weight for age of the reference population.

(Source: UNDP / World Bank)

The Family

The family’s impact on a young child is illustrated in terms of total fertility, and male and female literacy rates. High fertility generally reflects closely spaced births, which in the context of low income, leads to the exhaustion of mothers and the division of their limited time and resources among many children. Female literacy has a major bearing not only on psychosocial development, but also on the provision of appropriate health and nutrition support to the young child. The educational level of mothers has been linked significantly with falling fertility rates, decreasing infant and maternal mortality, enhanced levels of infant and child development, and improved social outcomes for children. Obviously, the impact of the family on the child is not in any way confined to these variables.

Literacy rate: Percentage of the male and female population aged 15 and over who can read and write. (Source: UNESCO)

Total fertility rate: Number of children who would be born per woman, if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years, conforming to the existing fertility pattern of the country.

(Source: UNICEF)

The Community

Access to health care services and safe water, and Gross National Product (GNP) generally indicate the community support available. Health services provide direct support for the young child, such as vaccinations and medicine, as well as support and advice for the family. Safe, clean water supplies for drinking, cooking and bathing help prevent the spread of diseases. GNP is a broad measure of the economic situation of a country and reflects the likely existence of community infrastructures including schools and roads, and its capacity to finance early childhood programmes.

GNP per capita US$ 1992: The gross national product estimated at current market prices in

US dollars. (Source: World Bank)

Access to health care services: Percentage of the population that can reach appropriate local health care within one hour’s walk or travel. (Source: UNICEF)

Access to safe water: Percentage of the population with reasonable access to safe water supply. (Source: UNICEF)

Pre-Primary Education

The 1990 Jomtien World Conference on Education for All strongly advocated that all countries set\ targets for the 1990s in terms of the learning achievements of children. Measures of enrolment in pre-primary education are used as interim indicators of learning achievement and preparedness for primary schooling. Pre-primary education programmes are intended to introduce young children to a school-like environment. They are concerned with the social, mental and physical development of young children, and often include activities designed to prepare children for the learning of reading, writing and mathematics. Research has shown that children who have experienced preprimary programmes are more likely than other children to remain in primary school and achieve good results.

Age-group enrolled: Population age-group that according to the national regulations can be enrolled in pre-primary education. (Source: UNESCO)

Pre-primary gross enrolment ratio: Total enrolment in pre-primary education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the population age-group corresponding to the national regulations for this level. (Source: UNESCO)

Convention on the Rights of the Child

The ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides an indication of the efforts undertaken by countries to implement the Convention and to provide better services and environments for children. Once ratified, the articles of the Convention become of a binding nature and governments have to submit within two years a report on the measures taken to implement the Convention. The ratification offers a legal instrument and means to individuals, journalists and NGOs to remind decision makers of the commitments they made.

Symbols

The following symbols are used in the tables: .. Data not available

a/ Data refers to 1991

b/ Data refers to 1991

[1] Report of United Nations,1980

[2] US Survey Report, Department of Social Welfare

[3] Report from Research, Phulki

[4] www.fulki.org

[5] Translated copy of the news report of Bangladesh Protidin, dated on 1^st March 2011, Reported by Zinnatun Nur.

[6] Function of Day Care Center has been edited as summery from the document of from the Canadian Day Care Service Provider Assessment Report, 1999

[7] Children’s Hospital Boston report.

[8] UNC Researcher