Nurseries must get nod for evening shift

Nurseries must get nod for evening shift Ahmed Shaaban / 12 August 2013 Nursery schools are not usually permitted to receive small children in the evening but a few exceptions have been allowed by the Ministry of Social Affairs. Moza Salem Al Shoomi, Director of the Child Department at the ministry, said some families had approached the ministry requesting nurseries to keep their young children till late in the evening. “All these applications are normally rejected, but some specific requests are allowed.” A nursery could never substitute a child’s own family who needed to take the responsibility and bring him or her up properly. “A child may not be kept away from his/her mother for over eight hours a day.” Al Shoomi said some requests for the same had been allowed, but only till 6pm, after being convinced of certain situations like the mother having to work late into the evening in a private institution. “However, the ministry’s approval is needed in advance, and the charges for the same may never exceed those paid in the morning shift according to the number of requested hours.” According to the set rules, all nurseries are only open from 7am to 2pm. “Of course, those given permission to receive young children in the evening may only be open till maximum 6pm.” “Also, no children above the age limit (five years) can be received in the evening period. “No activity other than the listed ones should be practised during the evening time, and the nursery building may only be used for the purpose it was built for. The nursery management shall be held responsible for all activities.” Al Shoomi warned that the evening permit issued for some nurseries would be revoked in case the management proved to have flouted the set conditions or been warned by the ministry inspectors. “All nurseries must be off on Fridays and Saturdays every week, and no nursery is allowed to take an extra day off,” she said, noting that it was very critical for all nurseries to abide by all official holidays and weekends. Meanwhile, the ministry issued a warning letter against a nursery and ordered it to be put under strict surveillance after a child was found to be harmed. “We have received 18 family complaints against nurseries in the first half of the year, and this reflects an increasing awareness among families of the nature of nurseries’ work.” She added that a little child had a hand broken while playing in one of the nurseries operating in the country this year. “Though the incident is normal, it has been one of the most harmful to young children at the nurseries here.” The complaints were mostly about the absence of headmistresses, failure to take due care of children, accepting children above the age limit, operating without a licence, charging of extra fees, expelling children for not paying fees, letting workers in during nursery hours and lack of  competent cadre. “While the ministry issued licences for 29 new nurseries from January to June this year, 119 applications for opening new nurseries were rejected for not meeting the conditions.” – ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com Taylor Scott International