What it takes to run a daycare centre in Dhaka

Three-year-old Ayan was sitting on Sefrun Nessa's lap as we spoke in her office. Little Liana, meanwhile, climbed onto my lap and continued drawing on a piece of paper she was carrying. 

Sefrun Nessa is the owner of Subarashi Day Care Centre - an establishment set up in a three-bedroom apartment in the capital's Tikatuli area. At present, it has six children, including Liana, Ayan and his two brothers, and two other children, all within three to 10 years of age.    

Except for Liana, the rest of the five children have working parents, mostly engaged in the banking sector. Working on a schedule of 9 am to 4 pm, they leave their children at Sefrun's care at around 8:30 in the morning and pick them up at 5 pm. 

The children stay at the centre for almost eight to nine hours, five days a week. They bathe, nap and have two meals (breakfast and lunch) here, including snacks.

Kashem and Tanima, a banker couple, are parents of three boys. The first two are already going to school. 

Day care center. Photo: Courtesy

At 8:30 in the morning, the couple leave home with their youngest son Ayan and drop him off at the daycare centre. At 11 am, the two boys get back from school and join their brother there.   

"We prefer a daycare centre that provides service from 10 am to 6 pm, as we are both working. We are waiting to get three seats at the government daycare centre in Motijheel, but they are currently full. As soon as we get the seats, we will shift our children there because the government centre is more affordable," Kashem shared with us.  

Liana has a stay-at-home mother but she was sent to Subarashi by her parents to improve her communication and motor skills. 

"When four-and-a-half-year-old Liana first came here, she could not say her name; she didn't speak or interact with other children. But after two months, she is now speaking and sharing toys with other children," Sefrun said.  

"We live in a residential area where we have no place for children to play, they grow up lonely. They do not learn how to make friends, or manners, basic communication skills, how to share things etc. At the daycare centre, she gets to meet children from different family backgrounds. So, she will learn social skills," said Brishti, Liana's mother.  

Photo: Courtesy

But children will eventually learn social skills when they go to school. Why now?

"When at home, my child is behaving the way I want her to. But I want to be sure she is well-behaved even when she goes out. In school, the environment is formal, more serious, it's about discipline. I want her to be prepared for it," she said. 

Sefrun Nessa started her career as a caregiver in 2009 at the daycare centre of Bangladesh Bank. In 2018, her employer lost the contract to operate the place, which left Sefrun and 20 other caregivers unemployed. 

That year she decided to start her own daycare centre as she had experience of almost 10 years and had a network with working parents.

"In 2019 when I first started Subarashi, I had to invest Tk10 lakh, which included the advance for the place, toys and interior design, and hiring caregivers. But then the pandemic hit and the parents took their children home. I am still paying the loans I took back then", Sefrun said.

"Bariwalas (apartment owners) do not want to rent their places to daycare centres, and even if they do, they demand a higher advance amount. Now, in the proposed Day Care Centre Regulation 2022, daycare centre owners have to show a bank balance of Tk10 lakh before applying for registration. Is it possible for us to have that much money?" she asked. 

Children in different costumes in day care. Photo: Courtesy

In 1991, the government took a significant step towards enabling working women to contribute to economic development by initiating the establishment of daycare centres. 

Initially, a total of 12 daycare centres were set up in two phases under a project specifically designed to support low-income working mothers.

Recognising the specific needs of women, a scheme titled 'Child Day Care Centre for Children of Working Middle-Class and Lower-Class Mothers' was launched in 1997.

According to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, it has approximately 80 centres, 43 of which are maintained by the government, while two other projects under the Directorate of Women Affairs (DWA) maintain 20 and 15 respectively. 

The government daycare centres have two sections - one for children from the middle-income group, with 50 seats, and the other for the lower middle-income group with 80 seats, typically children of household help and RMG workers. 

Photo: Courtesy

But other than that, the directorate and the ministry have no statistics on how many private daycare centres are operating in the city.

Kaniz Tazia, deputy director of the child care branch of DWA, said, "The Day Care Centre Regulations 2022 is still under scrutiny, not yet approved. As a result, there is still no proper registration process which will allow us to have a number." 

How much does it cost for parents?

At Subarashi, parents have to pay Tk 14,000 as an admission fee and the monthly fee is Tk 6,000 per child. Sefrun Nessa manages the centre with her elder sister and a caregiver who is also the cook.  

Kid's Second Home, an Uttara-based daycare centre takes in children from the age of six months to 14 years. The admission fee is Tk10,000 and the monthly fee for children aged five years and more is Tk 7,000. The fee for younger children is Tk 8,000. 

"We are open from 6:30 in the morning till 5 in the evening. We do remain open till 10 pm, but after 5 pm there is an hourly charge," said Mehnaz, the owner.   

On the other hand, government daycare centres are more affordable. Children aged between 5 to 9 years are admitted here. The admission fee is Tk500 and the monthly fee is Tk500 for the middle-income group children and Tk50 for the lower-income group children. The government daycare centre in Khilgaon has 30 children in the middle-income group section. 

In the proposed regulation, children of four months to six years old will be allowed at daycare centres at a prescribed monthly fee of Tk2,000 to Tk5,000. 

To feed or not to feed?

While the government daycare centres provide food for children, the private ones are divided here - some do and some don't. 

Hosne Ara Begum, child care officer at the Khilgaon government daycare centre, said, "Although we have two sections here for children depending on their socio-economic group, we provide the same food for all."

Breakfast is milk with bread, shemai or semolina. Lunch is rice, daal, potato, vegetables and eggs or chicken. For afternoon snacks, the children get bread, fruits, juice or wafers. 

"We need to check that the children are getting all the six elements of ideal food. So, we keep eggs, lentils, chicken and fish that have fewer bones on the menu. But if any parents want, they can provide food themselves," Sefrun Nessa said.  

Daycare centres and early childhood development

We spoke to Sonia Akram, an early childhood development and education specialist and also the owner of ABC Early Learning Daycare Centre. She studied early childhood care and development education in Australia and for eight years worked in the daycare centres there. 

In 2017, she finally came back to Bangladesh and started ABC Early Learning Daycare Centre in Dhaka. Currently, she has four branches - in Niketan, Gulshan, Dhanmondi and Moghbazar. 

According to Sonia, 95% of a child's brain is formed within the first five years and cognitive development continues till they are eight years old. So, the first eight years of a child is extremely crucial. So, daycare centres, where the children spend a large chunk of the day, need to be well aware of this.  

The dark side of rapid urbanisation includes our children living in congested houses without proper access to open air, sunlight etc. As more and more parents join the workforce, their children are staying with house help, watching television and being exposed to an unhealthy amount of screen time. 

"This means a holistic approach towards a child's brain and cognitive development is not being ensured; they are not learning how to communicate or share. Also, we do not have a framework for pre-schooling. The teachers and the caregivers need to learn these things," Sonia opined. 

According to Sonia, a daycare centre is not just about food, sleep and rest. Rather, it should provide holistic support for children's socio-emotional, cognitive language and motor development through different games and play. These games need to be set up age appropriately. The games for a six-month-old will be different from those suitable for a toddler. 

"Daycare centres should have meaningful interactive toys. Only colourful cars or balls are not meaningful or inclusive. There should be blocks of different sizes, puzzles, pencil colours and paper. Games and interactions are supposed to be the main priority in these centres, also they should have arrangements for children with special needs" she said.  

Before shopping for toys, there should be a risk assessment- whether the toy will be too difficult or even risky for the child to play with. For example, children aged between zero and six years will need colourful flying toys that move, and soft toys.  

"Soft toys have an effect on the brain development of a child. This is called sensory play - it activates their brain to respond to signals. Special children need to be given sensory therapies," Sonia explained. 

There should be storybooks for three-month-olds onwards; rhymes and songs are necessary at this stage to develop a vocabulary for six-month-olds onwards. Children need a lot of human touch - hugs and love are very necessary for sensory development. 

Children aged between one and two years or slightly older need less challenging puzzles.  For finger and muscle development, they need to be given big-size blocks, colouring pencils and paper to colour and scribble. Dramatic play should be arranged for them on a daily basis like kitchen play, and shopping games. 

Those aged more than three years would require a bit more challenging puzzles.  This is the stage where caregivers should introduce lessons, alphabets, colours, crafts with scissors, glueing and pasting, etc, for them. They will play with connecting puzzles which will develop their problem-solving life skills. 

Children aged more than six years have the capacity to solve bigger puzzles, they are also more creative. They do their homework at the daycare centre and play with other children. At this stage, they need an open space for gross motor play that burns their energy and involves movement. 

The interior is a vital part of a place where the children will stay. The walls should not be too colourful, these will overstimulate their brains and excite them. The shades need to be muted, yet warm and welcoming. 

"Children these days have a lot of sugary food, they get a lot of screen time, which is also very loud and colourful- these overstimulate their brains," Sonia said. 

Child-friendly furniture is a must, the chairs and benches need to be placed in such a way that disciplines them to sit and place themselves. The toilet needs to be their size. For children aged more than three years, the toy shelves need to be at their eye level. 

"There used to be a lot of taboo regarding daycare centres in Bangladesh. In 2013, when I first attempted to start a daycare centre, people told me that daycare centres give children sleeping pills so that they sleep all day. This is not true. Many working parents as well as stay-at-home parents are availing daycare facilities as during the pandemic lots of children are diagnosed with different developmental delays and behavioural issues. Now Doctors and developmental therapists are suggesting those children to send in daycare centres," she concluded.