Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the lack of qualified caregivers had a negative implication on the number of registered nurseries.

“The census projection by the Malaysian Department of Statistics in 2010 estimated the number of children aged between zero and four in 2018 to be 2.3 million,” she said at the launching of the 2018 Nursery Day here, today.

She said based on these statistics, if it was assumed that 50% of children in Malaysia aged up to four years old required nursery care, the country would need 38,333 nurseries.

However, she said SWD’s database showed there were only 4,302 registered nurseries nationwide.

Wan Azizah, who is also women, family and community development minister, said the numbers showed a clear shortage in terms of the requirement and availability of nurseries in the country.

“The lack of qualified caregivers and registered nurseries will have implications on the quality of care and safety of our children,” she said.

Wan Azizah stressed that the availability of nurseries was important to provide a support system for working parents to manage their children while they were at work.

“This will indirectly help the country achieve its goal of increasing the number of women in the workforce to 59% in 2020 compared to 54.75% in 2017,” she said.