Child care centers being set up in 45 upazilas of the country

Care centers for 8,000 children are going to be launched in 45 upazilas of 16 districts of the country next June. The center is being set up under the project 'Integrated Community Based Center for Child Care, Protection and Swim-Safe Facilities'. The project is being funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies in the United States and the Royal National Lifeboard Institution in the United Kingdom.

One caregiver and one assistant caregiver will be appointed in these care centers. At the same time, there will be 1,600 swimming instructors to teach children to swim.

Tariqul Islam Chowdhury, an expert on Early Childhood Development (ECD) at Bangladesh Shishu Academy and project consultant, said the project was supposed to start from last July, but it has been revised. We want to make an opening in the first week of next June. We will start service delivery from July.

The cost of this project for a period of three years has been estimated at Tk. 271 crore 82 lakh 57 thousand. The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs through Shishu Academy with the support of non-governmental organizations and other government departments.

The centers will be absolutely community based. The women there will be the care givers. Educational qualification of care givers should be SSC pass. ECD expert Tariqul Islam Chowdhury said a committee would be formed to manage the center locally.

He said the task of teaching swimming to the children at the center would be under the management of Bangladesh Swimming Federation. A memorandum of understanding will be signed with the primary schools to teach students to swim.

He added that the project was supposed to start from last July, but it has been revised from January this year. After the approval of ECNEC, the project will be completed within this week. Our groundwork is currently underway.

Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Anwar Hossain Hawlader said that in rural areas there is no one to see the child from morning till noon. Dad goes to work; mother also gets busy with household chores. The siblings go to school. In this condition the youngest children of the family are left uncared for. Sometimes they go to play outside and falls into water. For this, we will keep the children in the child care center from 9 am to 2 pm. The center will be close to the child's house. Children who go to school will be taught to swim.