Daycare centres across Guyana will now be licensed. This is as the Ministry of Social Protection, Department of Child Care and Protection rolls out its Early Childhood Development Programme, to ensure these facilities adhere to certain set standards.
According to GINA, the intention is to ensure that children are enrolled in safe, secure and infant-friendly Daycare Services that adhere to certain standards.
Director, Child Care and Protection Agency, Ann Greene, says that the Agency was able to get the regulation for the Child Care and Development Services Act of 2011, which allows them to license daycare facilities.
“For some time now we were trying to get that really on-stream…We were able to get the regulations for that Act, the Child Care and Development Services Act. The regulations are out and it’s being gazetted and now we are licensing our first set of daycare facilities,” Greene explained.
The Act was assented to by President David Granger and gazetted in September 2015.
There are some 280 Daycare facilities countrywide, for which the Social Protection Ministry has the responsibility to ensure that they are registered and licensed.
The Ministry’s’ Early Childhood and Development Unit has been conducting regular visits to these facilities.
That’s great but it’s not only having a license but is also making sure that staff are fully qualified in early years to educate young children. They should also be police checked to ensure that they have no convictions.