The staff of Taska Penyayang Mama wearing PPE.
BINTULU: Childcare and nursery operators here are well-prepared for the reopening of their premises, as more businesses reopened under the conditional movement control order (CMCO).
“When parents go back to their workplaces, the children have to be sent for proper childcare,” said Sabrina Sahni Abdullah, principal of The Little Averroes Kids Centre at Naim Street Mall Bintulu Paragon.
Sabrina Sahni Abdullah
She said as childcare operators, they have to prepare for reopening in terms of cleaning and disinfection, training plans for staff, parents and children in line with the standard operating procedure (SOP) set by the government.
Apart from that, she said they have to make sure their medical team is ready to give support on a daily basis with advice, guidelines and so on.
“We think the biggest challenge we will face is in making sure social distancing will not affect the children psychologically as it is obviously contrary to the children’s usual way of growing and learning,” she said.
To overcome this, Sabrina said they need to train the staff to be more creative and understand the requirement for positive bonding and maintaining an environment conducive for learning.
She also said to ensure success they need cooperation from the parents to comply with the procedures and rules at all times.
“One of the crucial parts is to be honest and open about their travel and illness history. It is not going to be easy but it’s not impossible too.
“We would like to thank the ministry for their effort in making sure the safety and health of the children are given utmost attention and priority.
“This is not an easy task, nevertheless it is the best for the survival of childcare centres,” Sabrina said.
Linda Ng, an operator of Taska Sinar Jaya at Jalan Keranji Lucky Tower, welcomed the reopening of childcare centres and nurseries.
“Indeed it’s really a big challenge for both Taska (childcare centres) and parents to adapt to this new normal.
“Parents will need to build trust and follow the SOP provided and to make sure their children are well at all times,” she said.
In the meantime, she added, the operators also need to make sure all teachers are in good health and well trained to protect the children from the coronavirus.
Ng thanked the Bintulu Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) for doing sanitisation at their premises recently.
“We did deep cleaning after that and we will keep doing this all the time. Safety and hygiene are top in our list,” she added.
On Tuesday, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in his daily update on Covid-19 informed that all childcare centres and nurseries were allowed to operate now that the SOP for them had been refined.
“The SOP, refined by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, had been approved by the government. It includes the SOP for sending the child to the centre, for when the child is in the centre’s care and for when the child is picked up.
“The centre operators can refer to the ministry’s website and that of the Welfare Department for more details of the SOP,” said Ismail Sabri.
As for Maraini Jaafar, an operator of Taska Permata Kasih and Taska Penyayang Mama, she and her staff had mixed feelings about reopening but they had carried out proper preparation mentally and physically since the movement control order (MCO) was enforced.
“We have done a checklist on the SOP under MCO thoroughly, we are ready and happy that working parents can finally send their children to the registered childcare centres since most parents feel insecure in sending their children to individuals who offer childcare services,” she said.
For a start, she said they will only cater for less than 20 children, depending on space in line with social distancing rules.
“We hope that parents will give full cooperation and work together by adhering to the SOP,” she said, adding that parents were also advised to provide hand towel or tissue, face shield and hand sanitizer for their children.
She said parents must be more responsible in ensuring the safety of their children and family members at home and they will be provided with the parents and kid declaration health form, and children with flu, cough or fever will not be allowed to enter the centre.
“Our premises was disinfected by Bomba in mid May and we are doing daily sanitisation and upgrading of the facilities, for example installing mini sink for hand washing outside the centre,” said Maraini.
She added they also share with and update parents in their WhatsApp group on the checklist and SOP.
Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said the childcare centres registered with the Sarawak government are expected to open on June 9.
Fatimah told The Borneo Post that the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee has finalised the SOP for the opening of these centres.