PETALING JAYA: With the rising cost of living already crippling many Malaysians financially, it does not make matters any better when couples, who depend on a combined income to make ends meet, end up spending a tidy fortune on daycare for their kids as well.
“I have to pay for child daycare even though it takes up half of my monthly salary,” said Siti Zaleha Othman, whose child attends a private daycare centre in the Klang Valley.
Speaking to FMT, Siti said she did not have any other option but to send her child to a daycare centre as both she and her husband worked.
“I pay RM1,950 for my two children, aged two and four because we have no other choice. We do not want to send our children to a cheap but distant daycare centre as it will cost even more than the place nearby which is convenient.”
“Both my husband and I work so we have to send our children to a daycare centre. When we are finished with work, we pick them up.
“If we do not do this then one of us has to stop working but in the city, it is not enough for one parent alone to work.”
These sentiments were shared by Wong, another parent, who said she was struggling every month with daycare fees and the rising cost of living.
“I pay RM350 for half a day, but the cost of living and my expenditure has increased while my salary has remained stagnant.
“I hope the government will keep the people’s burdens in mind,” said a disheartened Wong.
A civil servant who only wanted to be known as Mohamad meanwhile said he had to spend more than RM2,000 a month for all his children’s schooling expenses which included daycare fees.
“What can we do, we just have to bear with the cost of living, no matter how high it gets. If we protest, how would that help?
“In the past, one shirt would cost RM18 while now it is RM30. Even the cheapest school shoes are RM30,” he said, adding that these expenses were over and above fees for school and daycare that he forked out more money for.
“The government said it would help families earning less than RM3,000. I earn less than that and I did not get anything at all,” he said.