JAY JOSHI
The issue of child care and child rights was highlighted once more recently as Goa witnessed an incident where a 21 month old child was allegedly fed milk laced with tobacco at a day-care centre in Ponda. The residue of the liquid found in the feeder displayed a yellowish tint, and had been sent for testing at the time of writing this article. While the truth behind this allegation is yet to come out, the possibility that such incidents can occur has raised concerns about the treatment of children in day-care centres.
TG Life spoke to a number of stakeholders whose interests such issues could affect, and concern was voiced on all sides about the possibility of such cases happening.
“Day-care centres have become the need of the hour because on the one hand, families are shrinking, and on the other hand, the income of one brea-earner is not enough to provide for a family of three to four people,” said Madhuri Sawaikar, a dentist from Ponda. “To be honest, a lot of issues would be solved if grandparents were present in the house, but that is not the case everywhere. Frankly, it is quite risky to leave one’s children for the whole day at a day-care centre. Personally, I would prefer to leave my child with family friends or even neighbours I could trust. In my own experience, the kids of our neighbours grew up in our household. Day-care centre for me would be the choice of last resort, stated Sawaikar, who extended her maternity leave to care for her son who is now one
year old.
For Milan Desai, a homemaker from Priol, the thought of such incidents occurring caused a life-changing shift. “I was working with MTNL in Mumbai, and coming from Goa, I could not bear the thought of leaving my baby with a stranger. So, initially, I left my son with his grandmother, and later left the job altogether to raise the family,” says Milan. She agrees that it is indeed a high cost to pay, but states that the safety and security of her two children took precedence over other consideration at the time. “Now, when my daughter had her own child, we opted to employ a babysitter at home. With this arrangement, I can monitor the babysitter and ensure my grandson’s safety,” says Desai.
Bhakti Pai, who ran a day-care centre at Shiroda also underlined that day-care centres serve a crucial purpose for working parents, and hence, need to deliver good quality services. “First of all, such centres should not take on more kids than they can handle. That said, one needs to have patience and provide proper attention to children under one’s watch,” Pai says. “In case the reports about tobacco-laced milk are true, the babysitter at the facility must have done this so that the child goes to sleep and does not disturb them. At our own facility, we mainly kept the kids engaged by giving them toys or telling stories or showing pictures,” Pai informed, adding that the day-care centers are not so common in rural areas where joint families still survive.
Adv Sushma Mandrekar, chairperson of Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights highlighted that there needs to be a mechanism in place to monitor day-care centres in the state for quality and conduct. “There are many day-care centres in Goa which are not registered anywhere. Such establishments are sometimes simply started in family homes without informing the concerned authorities. There needs to be a mechanism to ensure that day-care centres are registered with the government and are monitored regularly by the authorities,” says the official, suggesting that day-care centres could be put under the department of women and child welfare.
It was learnt through sources that the state government presently has no data on how many day-care centres are operating in Goa, and has no mechanism in place to monitor such facilities on a regular basis. The Commission for Protection of Child Rights has highlighted that the possibility of such incidents occurring at day-care centres is quite high, underlining that such incidents have happened in other states across India. Thus, even as the debate on quality of services at day-care centres goes on, another fact that the issue underlines is that it is risky to leave one’s child in the hands of a stranger, even out of necessity. Better social bonds could perhaps solve the problem, but how does one devote time to building such bonds, is another issue altogether.
