KOCHI: Jolted by the assault on a one-and-half-year-old boy by a daycare owner at Palarivattom the other day, the Kochi Corporation has opened its eyes to the unregistered growth of such centres in the city.
The civic body has decided to make licence mandatory for all daycare centres functioning in the city. Before getting licences, the centres will be required to register with the corporation. The registrations will begin on June 10 and conclude by June 30.
Mayor Soumini Jain took the decision at a meeting attended by Health Standing Committee chairperson V K Minimol, Welfare Standing Committee chairperson A B Sabu, secretary A S Anuja, Revenue officers, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) officers and health officers.
“The move aims at preparing the database of the daycare centres. At present, we have no idea about the number of such centres functioning across the city. Registering the daycare centres will give us that idea,” said Sabu. “Only three firms have registered with the corporation,” he said.
Running daycare centres using the registration number will not be allowed. Getting a licence will be made mandatory, Sabu said.
“We also sought a report from the ICDS on the mandatory guidelines to be followed by daycare centres. Based on the report, a team will inspect the centres. Only those that pass the ‘acid test’ will be issued licences. The rest will be asked to close down,” said Sabu.
He said the licence fee will be decided later. “Under the Municipal Law, there is no provision to collect licence fee from daycare centres. It will be fixed in the light of the latest move. The corporation council meeting will discuss the matter and send its decisions to the state government for approval,” he said.
Mayor-led committee to check daycare centres
The meeting also decided to form a monitoring committee to inspect the functioning of daycare centres in the city. The Mayor will chair the committee, which will have the Health Standing Committee chairperson, the Welfare Standing Committee chairperson, secretary, Revenue officials, ICDS officials and health officers as members.
Court to hear bail plea of caretaker today
Kochi: The Kakkanad Judicial First Class Magistrate Court will hear the bail plea filed by Mini Mathew, who runs the Kali Veedu Daycare and Play School, on Thursday.
The 48-year-old resident of Nochima, Aluva, was arrested by Palarivattom Police on the basis of a complaint lodged by the parents of the kid, who was assaulted allegedly by the woman. Mini was booked under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act and IPC Section 323 for voluntarily causing hurt.