Childcare Centres
The provision of childcare centres can have a great effect on women and the children and the society because they enable women to attend university and participate more widely and effectively in the workplace by relieving them of some of their caring responsibilities for the part of the day or evening while they work.
Childcare centres also seek to develop the abilities of the children in the absence of mothers, and with trained staff and fully equipped facilities, they are preferable to leaving children with babysitters without education. However, women, either students or mothers, suffer from the scarcity of childcare centres, and they are sometimes forced to discontinue their education out of concern for their children. Most women face difficulties in balancing education and work with their concern for household affairs. The country decided in both the old and new Saudi Labor Law that:An employer who employs fifty working women [or]... more shall provide them with [a] suitable place with [an] adequate number of nannies to look after the children under the age of six years, if the number of children reaches ten and above.[1398]
This decree is clear and applied to each governmental and national establishment in regard to providing the care needed for the children. In fact, the decree has yet to be implemented as is the educational policy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which provides encouragements in Articles 116 and 117 to establish preschools and kindergartens for the care of children. In addition, the competent authorities should plan for building preschools and kindergartens as well as their supervision by the competent bodies. Actually, the systems are largely inactive and the private sector has even fewer individuals who are interested in childcare provision. The effective experience that we have witnessed in advanced countries strongly encourages us to put into practice the existing laws which would support the spread of these centres across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, because these centres would have positive effects on women and children and society. Because childcare centres provide children with the educational and recreational environment required to develop their understanding and abilities, a woman can undertake and complete her study and ensure the care of her children by confidently using these centres for that care while she is studying.
The society will benefit from these centres in other ways, as they will employ appropriately educated but hitherto unemployed women, thereby decreasing the rates of unemployment among women, which is currently adding significantly to the nation’s budgets.[1399] In respect to this, I suggest the following:1. Execute orders and decisions issued for establishing preschools and childcare centres as well as following up the implementation of these decisions.
2. Declare clear plans for building childcare centres around Saudi Arabia.
3. Support the private sector in its efforts to compete in presenting services and establishing childcare centres as well as providing necessary facilities needed to establish these centres.
4. Refuse issuance of building permits for building these centres unless they comply with medical and health specifications and educational and social standards that will meet the goals of parents.
5. Develop regulations and systems for kindergartens and what this entails for technical and administrative organisations. Develop employment in the preschool environment as well as the environment of preschools by bringing experts in the field to prepare all that is needed for the delivery of education for children up to the age of four years, including setting conditions and assigning tasks for all childcare employees.
6. Benefit from the experiences of developed countries which have experience in that field as well as developing these experiences in a manner that is compliant with Saudi development and Saudi society.
F.