The Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) recently revealed in its Year-in-Review report that of 337 daycare or playschool facilities found across the country, only a mere 131 possess the required licences, leaving a whopping 206 institutions unlicenced.
The CCPA’s year-in-review posted on the Agency’s Facebook page shared statistics which highlighted that Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) has the highest number of playschools found which stood at 184.
However, only 160 of those were registered and only 41 had the necessary licences.
According to a senior source at the CCPA, playschools and day cares can be registered but not licenced, as the licensing process is a lengthy one.
It was explained that for such entities to be licenced, they must undergo a series of inspections by the Public Health Ministry, the Guyana Fire Service, Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) and a number of other stakeholder-agencies.
Along with this, a number of paperwork also has to be sorted out before those businesses can be licenced.
This publication understands that the CCPA’s arm of the Social Protection Ministry will be assisting those businesses in becoming fully compliant with the standards as required of them.
In fact, the agency said it is working with guiding those businesses along the way as it seeks to have all the facilities licenced by the end of 2019.
