The closure of daycare centers has left the staff and teachers unemployed and they struggle to find alternative jobs.
Pune: It has been more than six months that daycare centers in Pune have remained closed after the Union health ministry in March advised senior citizens and children below the age of 10 years to stay indoors due to coronavirus.
Even though the owners managed to survive for a few months with a reduction in income, they soon failed to do so, forcing them to shut. Ms. Shreeja, one of the owners of Proviso daycare says she had to cut down on her staff and teachers as parents of her students stopped paying fees and running the daycare center without any income was becoming difficult
Even after the new guidelines issued by the government on unlock-5 the government in Maharashtra has not considered it safe for small children to go to school, forcing daycare centers to close for the foreseeable future. Ms. Parvathy a support staff from Kidzee daycare says she is the only member in her family who earns and the sudden closure of the daycare center has left her with no job. She is finding it difficult to find an alternative as people are not willing to give jobs during this time.
A recent survey, conducted by LinkedIn between July and September revealed that 31 percent Indian working mothers were providing full-time childcare in comparison to 17 percent working fathers. More than 44 percent were also working outside their business hours to provide childcare, nearly twice as many as the figure for men at 25 percent. Around 42 percent reported being unable to focus on work with children at home and 46 percent worked till late to make up.
Ms. Nasreen , a working mother says it is difficult for her to manage her daughter and work and also claims their her daughter is getting cranky sitting at home without interacting with anyone.
The officials say as long as the corona cases are not in control , they can’t decide on the reopening of daycares.
Mr. Gadwe, Education officer at Pune Municipal Corporation ( PMC) , says ‘’Small children don’t understand the importance of social distancing nor they understand anything about the ongoing pandemic. So managing them will be an issue. ’’
