Africa-Press – Botswana. Lobatse Town Council is reviewing its bye-laws regulating day care centres.
The town council’s chief social and community development officer, Ms Keamogetse Mooki said the proposed bye-laws would amend the day care centres bye-laws of 2010. She was speaking at a consultative kgotla meeting at Woodhall recently.
She said the draft bye-laws required all day care centres to have conducive learning environments, safety measures, specified hygiene levels and adequate space to prevent overcrowding. She also said the draft bye-laws required all day care centres to have qualified teachers.
She also promised that they would ensure adherence to the proposed bye laws once adopted by the town council.
She added childhood education was very important and that day care centres should provide education of the required standard.
Ms Mooki also urged parents to enrol their children in compliant day care centres.
She noted that the draft bye-laws were derived from pieces of legislation such as the early childhood care in education policy.
The council’s bye-law officer, Mr Thebe Disele said the draft bye-laws required all day care centres to have a license and that it would be valid for one year in alignment with the school calendar.
He also said the license fee would be P500.
He said the new bye-laws required all day care centres to have sufficient indoor and outdoor play space, facilities for people with disabilities, sick bay, fenced play area and restricted access to swimming pools if the day care centre had any.
“The draft bye-laws also indicate that day care centres should have a qualified teacher to children ratio of one is to 25 for the age group of 2.5 to four years,” he said, adding that it further stated that the teacher to children ratio should be one is to 30 for the age category of four to six years.
Mr Disele also noted that the proposed bye-laws gave the council the power to close all non-compliant day care centres.
Some residents called for the bye-laws to prohibit foreigners from operating day care centres. They also proposed that day care centre fees should be regulated as they said they were too high.
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