The recent alleged sexual assault on a three-and-a-half-year-old girl at a daycare centre by the owner’s son, in Hampinagar, has put the spotlight back on the issue of safety of children at such centres and crèches.
Although guidelines for setting up crèches/daycare centres in the State were framed by the Department of Women and Child Development in May 2015, owners of many centres are unaware of them. Worse still, jurisdictional local bodies such as the BBMP, municipalities or gram panchayats, which are supposed to register these centres, have not made any concrete efforts.
N. Manjunath Prasad, Commissioner, BBMP, said, “The local bodies do not have anything to do with daycare centres. It is the Department of Women and Child Development that has to monitor these centres.”
Mandara Manjunath, co-founder of a daycare centre that has 12 children, said, “We are not aware of the rules and registration process. We are open to following the regulations on safety of children as long as they are practical.”
An official of the Department of Women and Child Development said a meeting of the local bodies would be convened soon to explain them about their role and responsibilities on the issue.
These norms for setting up crèches and day care centres is applicable to those that are set up in corporate offices, industries, government and NGO establishments, local bodies, societies, boards, trusts and home based or by individuals.
Pooja V., whose daughter goes to a day care centre in Banashankari, said: “Children in this age group are most vulnerable and there is a need for authorities to ensure that these centres are supervised.”
