KUCHING, Jan 7: Preschools and childcare centres are encouraged to keep their doors open for the first few days of reopening, allowing parents to get their children acquianted with the new environment.
This is the advice from Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah when she said some children are first-timers to preschools and childcare centres.
She said the abrupt change of space could cause separation anxiety among young children, thus she urged teachers and operators to be empathetic.
“I understand that there are centres that only allow parents to drop off and pick up their children on the first day.
“However, emotionally and mentally, children are not ready for the sudden separation and it may have an impact on their wellbeing.
“Some children can manage well and can be independent, but there are some who cannot,” she said in a statement today.
Fatimah also suggested parents to arrange for familiarisation visits with their children to the preshool or childcare centre prior to the children’s “first day at school”.
Meanwhile, she reminded all parents, guardians, teachers, and operators to obey all standard operating procedures (SOPs) approved by the ministry.
Only parents and guardians with low risk statuses in MySejahtera are allowed into any premises while Person Under Surveillance (PUS), Person Under Investigation (PUI) as well as close contacts are prohibited and must be reported to the respestive divisional health department.
Should any parents or children experience any Covid-19 symptoms such as fever, coughs, flu or diaarhoea, they are disallowed from visiting their preschools or childcare centres.
If any of the children’s family members are categorised as PUS, centre operators must be informed for further instruction.
“Finally, I would like to welcome all children to our preschools and kindergartens in the whole Sarawak following Sarawak’s transition into NRP (National Recovery Plan) Phase 4.
“To all teachers, love and educate our children as best as possible. And to all parents, let us form a great team together becuase our cooperation is key to building a firm foundation for the physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual developments of our children,” said Fatimah. — DayakDaily
