Day/night care facilities to further support parents in the workforce

The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security is now able to better support parents in the workforce and ensure the safety of children, as the $100 million budgetary allocation to construct day and night care facilities was approved in the Committee of Supply recently.

Minister, Dr Vindhya Persaud noted that the care facilities are part of the ministry’s childhood development programme. With the intention to meld the structure with the skill sets that are being produced through the Women Innovation and Investment Network (WIIN) Programme.

“So, we would’ve trained thousands of women across the region in child care so we are encouraging them to form consortiums. Where they start their own day and night care and early childhood facilities, but we have to produce models that they can follow while they also provide real service so it will be training/ care facilities and this is a very novel thing and I believe it is the first in the region with the combination of early childhood development and care facilities” she said.

The minister further relayed the ministry’s plans to extend the programme to eventually foster public/ private partnerships. In addition, the programme will provide persons the opportunity to be entrepreneurs on an individual level or as a consortium.

Persons who are interested in being part of the childcare sector can access free training through WIIN, where they will be exposed to diverse and intensive training. Some of the areas being targeted in the training are early childhood development and special needs education.

“So, when they start their own facilities or they choose to work with us for a little bit get some experience, go off to start their own they are doing so with very firm footing and they can provide the kind of care that people would want,” Minister Persaud posited.

The minister noted that the initiative is in great demand by men and women in the work force who work shifts and relatively late hours. To this end, she urged persons to be a part of the programme, as it has great prospects for the future of childcare.