As the morning rush hour gains momentum, so do the knocks on these caregivers’ doors with more and more working mothers dropping off their children for the day. The caregivers welcome each child with open arms and until that evening, play the role of mother to these children. These are the workers at local daycare centres in Pakistan, who look after our children everyday so that we may have the opportunity to build sound careers for ourselves.
Over the past decade, women in Pakistan have become players in the professional world, almost at par with their male counterparts. In order to facilitate them, a number of daycare centres have sprung up across the country which allow these working women to fulfill their ambitions without being tied down by their maternal responsibilities. One such example is the Tiny Hands and Feet Daycare Centre (THAFDC) which is located in an upscale area of Karachi and owned and operated by three women, along with a trained staff and on-site nurse. The owners have educational backgrounds in psychology, linguistics and teaching which, according to Director Rahmat Latif, gives the daycare a “thorough understanding of the children’s needs, attitudes and behaviours.”
According to Rahmat, the main aim behind THAFDC is to assist mothers to have a better, happier life by allowing them to pursue their careers or just follow their interests. Raeda Latif, one of THAFDC’s founding members, came up with the idea during her own time working in the financial sector when she noticed that the Human Resources department at her company would often forgo some suitable candidates because they were women with or about to have children. “I saw that they would weigh a female candidate’s suitability according to how long she would be able to work after her marriage and baby,” reveals Raeda. “I came across many women who truly wanted to work but quit because of these domestic responsibilities and so we lost several high potential workers. This is what encouraged me to start THAF,” she adds.
Daycares play an important role in expediting women’s careers by allowing them to work without worry. In fact, Raeda shares that their clientele includes not just working mothers but some students as well, whose studies were disrupted due to marriage and pregnancy. “Some of the mothers who come to us are finishing medical, dentistry, MBAs etc.” she claims. “Life for women should not stop once they become mothers. Our mission is to provide a home away from home for their children so the mothers can build better, happier real homes. It is a great thing!”
Raeda attributes the growing dependence on daycare centres to the rising ambitions of Pakistani women who now aspire to do much more in life than be homemakers. She also believes that family structures in Pakistan have changed, creating the need for babysitters other than a child’s grandparents and maids. “Nowadays, the nuclear family style is becoming increasingly popular as young couples don’t like to live with their parents so they need to find other babysitters. Not to mention, even grandmothers no longer just sit at home – they have their own schedules or aren’t willing or healthy enough to take up the responsibility of tending to little children. That is where THAFDC comes in,” she explains.
With the child-friendly and clean environment and other services on offer, more and more parents are resorting to daycares for their children. For Rafea Rizwan, being able to send her two young daughters to a daycare is a blessing as her fulltime job at one of Paksitan’s leading TV channels does not allow her to look after them during the day. “My husband and I don’t feel comfortable leaving our daughters with the maids so we don’t employ any,” she admits. “But at the daycare, I know my daughters are well looked after. Even if they are sick, be it nappy rashes or fever or just regular toddler tantrums, the daycare has proved itself time and again, caring for the children as any family member would.”
Apart from the regular, 9-5 packages, some daycare centres have started providing services by the hour to allow women to complete everyday chores like shopping, groceries or cooking without having to juggle them with their children. In fact, at Playhouse Childcare, the number of mothers availing these hourly packages is much higher than those leaving their children for the entire day. This way, parents can drop of their children as the need arises, on a day-to-day basis. “Our hourly packages provides mothers with a feasible and secure option wherein the children can be left in a friendly and hygienic environment to play with other children, whilst the mothers are free to shop, hit the salon, grab a coffee etc and pick up their child on their way home,” explains Farah Ali, director of Playhouse.
In order to keep the children busy and prevent tantrums, Playhouse conducts activities like arts and crafts, hip hop dance, yoga and aerobics, giving them an educational and fulfiling experience. “Once the activities are over, the children are fed, washed and put to sleep. They may even complete some homework should they have any,” shares Farah.
In order to meet the growing demands of their female employees and curtail employee turnover, some prominent organizations like Engro Corporation and Unilever now offer private daycare facilities on the office premises, allowing female workers to do their jobs whilst keeping their children close to them. Nida Fatima, an assistant manager at Unilever highlights the benefits of on-site daycares, saying “I feel physically close to my baby at all times of the day. Her live video-feed is available for me to keep tabs whenever I want. This gives me mental peace and boosts my productivity at work as I as I’m not worried the whole time.”
The needs of working women and their children have also encouraged the government to provide subsidised daycare centres to those who cannot afford private help. The Government of Sindh has recently opened a daycare facility in PECHS, Karachi which caters to the less fortunate, charging a fee of Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 per month, depending on the age of the child. Dr. Sadia Farnaz, manager of the Women Development Department of Sindh says the centre aims at “women for whom not working is simply not an option,” providing them support and ensuring they do not retire. Another similar daycare has been setup on the University of Karachi campus to facilitate female teachers and students alike, with two additional centres being planned for Karachi and four more in interior Sindh. “Our main endeavour is to stop Pakistani women from quitting their jobs upon motherhood as they are the backbone of the economy,” says Dr Farnaz. “If they are adequately supported, they will be able to move ahead and make a difference for themselves and the nation.”
The rise of daycare centres indicates a shift in the mentality of people, who now realise the importance of women’s contributions to Pakistan’s economy. It is our duty as good citizens to encourage this change and push our women to become more than homemakers. The women of the world have moved ahead and so should we.
Charges:
Tiny Hands & Feet Daycare Centre:
Monthly charges – 9am to 5pm package: Rs14,000
Monthly charges – 12pm to 5pm package: Rs5,000
Daily charges: Rs1,000 p/day
Hourly charges: Rs300 p/hr
Playhouse Children:
Monthly charges – 9am to 6pm
package: Rs12,000
Daily charges – 9am to 2pm: Rs150 p/hr
Daily charges – 2pm to 6pm: Rs200 p/hr
Daily charges – 6pm to 9pm: Rs250 p/hr
Daycare Centre, Women Developement Department, Government of Sindh:
Monthly charges – 9am to 5pm package: Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 (depending on age of child)
Published in The Express Tribune, Ms T, October 20th, 2013.
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No doubt the article is very well articulated and talking about day cares it is one of the most running business currently in town. While you have named a day care THF, how about you mention what sort of training are they providing as well. While conducting a survey on daycare centers in Karachi as one of our projects during our training at an Institute, what we found out was that none of the private day care centers were giving any sort of training to the their staff including THF which was approximately 6 to 7 months back from now. So, just for my clarification if Rahat Kamal you could please brief me on that, I will be glad if you do so.