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Typically, there are 10 to 20 children at a daycare center, and one caretaker for every five to seven children. Because the daycare centers integrate health, nutrition, learning and recreational activities, the caretakers (ayahs) must combine the roles of surrogate mother, caretaker, health worker and social worker. They receive training in childrearing, hygiene, nutrition, and related topics.
The role and performance of the caretakers is very important for the physical and socio-emotional development of the children.
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A caretaker at Bhashanti Community DayCare Center in Dhaka
tries to reduce a girls' fever (above) by pouring water on her head
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A garment factory-based Phulki daycare center (below) in Dhaka:
Early childhood care and development is shaped by many inputs, including environment and surroundings, nutrition, health, psychological stimulation and affection, and interaction with caretakers. Nutritional and health condition play a great and powerful role in the development of infants and young children, with effects extending to all areas of children's development (cognitive, gross motor, fine motor and behavioral).
The centers give young children colorful things to look at, and surround them with interesting sounds of work and conversation to which they can respond. Factory-based centers tend to be housed in spacious, well-ventilated rooms. Colorful drawings imprinted with rhymes, colorful pictures from old calendars, and large red, blue, green and yellow posters are pasted on the walls. There are toys like dolls, zoo sets, rattles, and balls.
The caretakers are eager to stimulate the children's social and emotional development with sympathy, love, affection, attention and intimacy, while providing security and constant monitoring. They encourage children to join them as they recite rhymes with actions. They distribute fruits (guavas) and peanuts brought by the parents to all the children.
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Ayahs (caretakers) wash children at a community daycare center in Dhaka:
The children thrive on warm and gentle touching, and particularly respond to being talked to directly with smiles and gestures. They get opportunities for companionship with the other children, and to take turns and share, helping them become socially adjusted and emotionally balanced.
The caretakers are recruited from the same community as the daycare center so that they are familiar to the children. Because some of the caretakers live with their own families next to the daycare centers, they can work beyond normal
hours (including late at night or early in the morning, when the mothers
may be working overtime in the factories). The caretakers' family members (husband, daughter, etc.) often help by looking after the children, especially during late hours. Some of the caretakers may eventually start their own home-based centers as businesses of their own.
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Rekha, a garments worker, is married to Suruj Miah, a rickshaw puller, and has a nine-month old daughter. She has been enrolled in a factory-based nursery for two weeks:
"My child would previously stay at home with my sister. While at home, there were a lot of problems. I could not take care of my small child properly, so she became ill. I took about two months leave to take care of her. At present, she is well and so I try to keep her near me. This is a big benefit."
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© 2001 Changemakers
Photographs by Shehzad Noorani/Developing Images
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