KOTA KINABALU: About 228 child nurseries have been set up in public sector workplaces nationwide which are registered with the Social Welfare Department until July, said Deputy Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh.
She said efforts to encourage government agencies to set up nurseries were still ongoing because an audit conducted by the ministry showed that there were 541 government agencies nationwide which don’t have the facility.
The government through the ministry has committed to set up more nurseries in the public sector by allocating RM10 million this year with 66 government agencies given approval to set up creches under the grant, she said.
“Approval of grants for nurseries in the public sector workplaces gives priority to government agencies that intend to set up nurseries, have high demand from staff and operate in shifts,” she told reporters after a visit to the nursery in the Sabah State Administrative Centre here today.
During the visit, she also presented a check for RM198,400 to the Sabah Government Printing Department received by State Government printer Politin @ Wenen Mobiji.
Hannah said the allocation approved in March and April had already been distributed to all government agencies across the country except for the Sabah Government Printing Department which had just been approved in July.
The 37 government agencies which received government allocation grants are operating on shifts such as hospitals and the Prison Department which have priority to receive the grants.
These include seven state government departments and agencies, of which three are in Sabah, she said.
She said the Women, Family, and Community Development Minister, who is also Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has also written to all Chief Ministers and Menteri Besar to apply for budgets to set up nurseries at workplaces in state government agencies.
She said the commitment to set up nurseries in the public sector cannot simply be handed over to the Federal government but must be a shared responsibility with the state government.
Hannah said the establishment of nurseries at public sector workplaces is a government commitment to ensure that women continue to work and to ease the burden of working parents in the public sector.
Meanwhile, she said six Sabah state government agencies were among recipients of the grant to set up nurseries at workplaces involving a total allocation of RM923,400.
She said the agencies were the Federal Secretary’s Office with an allocation grant of RM193,000, Sabah State Prison Department (RM21,000), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Sandakan Campus (RM180,000), MARA Junior Science College Sandakan (RM145,000), Department of Women’s Affairs Sabah (RM186,000) and Sabah Government Printing Department (RM198,400). — Bernama
