KUCHING, Dec 8 — All childcare centres (taska) registered under the Social Welfare Department (JKM) are required to display their registration number at their premises, effective January 1 next year.
Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the move is necessary to assure parents regarding the licensing status of childcare centres where their children are placed.
"My ministry is often questioned about why there are unregistered childcare centres and how can we know they have never applied for a license from JKM.
"So now, we are making it compulsory for childcare centres to display their registration number on the wall so that guardians sending their children can know that the centres are registered," she said at a programme with the Sarawak press last night.
Nancy added that the initiative is among the ministry's main agendas for 2025.
Other agendas for the upcoming year include rolling out the Autism Learning Fee Assistance initiative and the development of an Autism Service Centre, involving allocations of RM15 million and RM5 million, respectively.
"The Prime Minister announced this during Budget 2025, and it is a new initiative aimed at ensuring the welfare of autistic children.
"It is time for the government to provide focused support and early intervention for children with autism, without placing them alongside non-autistic children," she said.
Meanwhile, the Santubong MP also announced that RM5.6 million has been allocated this year for development projects in her constituency.
The allocation includes RM3.17 million for the Village Connectivity Road program, RM500,000 for the Rural Transformation Project, and RM967,000 for the People-Friendly Project.
— Bernama
