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James Debono
Not a single company has yet benefited from a Lm429,500 programme co-financed by the European Union, which is offering incentives to employers setting up childcare centres in their own workplace.
The EU funding amounted to Lm322,500. Malta has not lost the unutilised funds which will be used to fund a new project aimed at creating awareness on childcare centres.
The original project was launched in April 2005 in the presence of Education and Employment Minister Louis Galea.
But a year later, only ten companies have been deemed eligible for this funding and only one of them is near signing an agreement with the Employment Training Corporation to benefit from the scheme.
The declared aim of this project was that of opening a childcare centre in 60 companies, creating 600 new childcare places.
The packet of incentives included a start-up grant of Lm387 for creating the space where to house the childcare facility, and Lm645 for equipment.
The government was also offering to pay half the salaries of child carers working in companies participating in this project.
The availability of suitable premises in compliance with provisional safety regulations was the major stumbling block for the 60 companies who expressed interest in the scheme.
Anna Borg, senior executive of the ETC’s gender unit, explained that following site inspections, it emerged that most of the employers who had originally expressed interest in the scheme did not fulfil the strict guidelines set by the Department of Social Welfare Standards.
Even though currently there is no legal framework for enforcing these standards, prospective providers are encouraged to offer a service, which is in line with the proposed standards.
According to the same standards, premises should be situated on a ground floor level, should include an open-air outdoor play area and should satisfy health and safety standards. Officials from the Department also visit the premises to draw up a report indicating whether the proposed child day care centre is appropriate or not.
“The problem is that existing workplaces were built without the regulations in mind and very few fulfil the criteria stipulated by guidelines,” Borg told MaltaToday.
But despite this setback, the EU funding has served to train 110 persons as professional child carers. The course for prospective child carers consists of 300 hours of lectures and 500 hours of practice in existing day care centres.
Prospective carers are trained in nutrition, child development, emotional and physical development, health, nutrition and other themes related to childcare. They are also trained to stimulate creativity through educational games.
“Ensuring that child carers are given adequate training is vital to win the trust of parents who want to be sure that their children are well attended to,” Borg said.
But affordability is another stumbling block for lower and middle-income parents who want to drop their children at day care centres.
Borg states that currently there is a wide range of prices ranging from 48c an hour to Lm1.
But she warns that some type of financial support in the form of tax rebate for parents using day care is necessary. Borg warns that when the new regulations come in force, costs will inevitably go up because “quality costs money”.
A report by the European Commission published last week states that creating high quality day care centres is a key instrument in decreasing the gap between the number of women and men at the workplace. Malta has the largest gap between working men and women in the European Union.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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