ZCZC
JS-02
DAY-CARE-CENTER-BILL
Child Day Care Center Bill, 2021 passed in parliament
SANGSAD BHABAN, June 16, 2021 (BSS) – The Child Day Care Center Bill, 2021 was passed in the Jatiya Sangsad here today with strict legal provision to ensure safety and security of the children in the day care centers.
State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Fazilatun Nessa Indira placed the bill in the house with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.
According to the proposed law, there would be four types of child daycare centres in the country.
The four types are: child daycare centres run with subsidy provided by the government; daycare centres run by the government, government agencies, directorates, departments, statutory agencies or autonomous agencies to provide services free of cost; daycare centres run by individuals or organisations for commercial purposes; and non-profit daycare centres run by individuals, organisations, non-government organisations, clubs, associations, corporate sector or industrial sector.
Registration will be required to set up child daycare centres and there would be a separate authority for the registration. The Women and Children Affairs Ministry will monitor the daycare centres.
As per the bill, the maximum fine for failure to maintain proper safety and security of children in the daycare centres would be Tk 10 lakh.
If anyone runs any child daycare centre without registration, they would be fined Tk 50,000, it said.
Before framing the law, opposition lawmakers including Harunur Rashid, Rumeen Farhana, Mosharraf Hossain and Independent lawmaker Rezaul Karim Bablu demanded more public review on the draft law.
Rejecting the opposition’s review on the bill, the state minister said the draft law has been reevaluated in different stages since 2016 and public review was sought while it was placed on the website.
Earlier, the Cabinet approved in principle the draft of the Child Daycare Centre Bill to support children of working women as the number of nuclear families is increasing day by day.
The Women and Children Affairs Ministry placed the draft bill for the cabinet’s endorsement as the number of working women is increasing in the country.
BSS/OG/GMR/1340 hrs