KUCHING: Every application for a new private daycare centre or kindergarten that complies with the terms and procedures set by the Land and Survey Department, should receive approval within 35 days, says Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.

The Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development believes that there needs to a standardised timeline for such process.

“The approval process for new daycare centres and kindergartens in Sarawak is quite different from those in the rest of the country, as it involves technical agencies. My ministry is very serious in ensuring that all daycare centre and kindergarten operators in Sarawak will ensure the safety of the children,”
she told reporters at her office yesterday.

Fatimah said all daycare centre and kindergarten operators must understand the set requirements for them to follow in order to have their applications be approved.

Nevertheless, she also pointed one of the determining factors in the approval process, which was the location of the new daycare centre or kindergarten.

“According to the requirements (in Sarawak), a daycare centre or kindergarten must not be located at a dead-end road or street, or at any busy intersection.

“Also, some daycare centres and kindergartens in certain neighbourhoods are not able to operate due to a number of residents not agreeing to it,” she said.

Fatimah highlighted the data recorded from Jan 1 to May 31 this year, about nine daycare centres and three kindergartens in Sarawak not getting the approval from the Land and Survey Department to operate due to failure in complying with the set conditions.

In addition, she said as at June 9 this year, 119 private daycare centres and 484 private kindergartens in Sarawak had been registered with the Welfare Department.

“There are 28 private daycare centres and five private kindergartens that are still in the process of obtaining approval from the Land and Survey Department.”

Adding on, Fatimah said the Land and Survey Department had not charged any consultant fee and also, the Education Department Sarawak had abolished the ‘Temporary Registration Certificate’.