First, the education ministry had said no private education centres, including kindergartens and international schools, would be allowed to open from yesterday morning to June 6, despite earlier MCO rules which allowed such centres to remain open.
In the evening, parents and childcare operators were again left scratching their heads when the prime minister said daycare centres would now be allowed to operate during the new national MCO period.
A private education provider’s group with interests in daycares and kindergartens has pleaded for the government to be clear with their plans and SOPs, while parents who spoke to FMT were left fuming and frantic over the double U-turns.
Kwan, a mother of an autistic six-year-old boy, said the on and off situation has put her in a precarious situation, as she had no choice but to send her child to school, as she needs to give her full attention to day-long virtual meetings from around the world.
The 40-year-old mother of two from Sungai Ara said during the first MCO, her son’s condition became worse due to the lack of a school structure, which later required a clinical psychologist to fix.
“Imagine if now there is no daycare for three weeks, my son would probably revert to the same condition. And to make things worse, we do not have a support system (family members) as we are not from here,” the engineer said.
SG Tan, 36, was forced to return to his son’s daycare to pick him up just hours after he sent him. “It is a nuisance as I had a couple of Zoom meetings to attend, which I had to skip because of this.”
Production executive Christine, 40, said she did not have the luxury of working from home as she had to supervise an assembly line at a factory in Bayan Lepas. She said the flip-flopping of policy was making it tough for her.
“If the kids cannot go to school, then I need to take unpaid leave. Wonder why the government flips decisions like roti canai,” the Relau-based woman said.
For marketing executive Fenny Choo, 31, daycare was essential for her as she lived on the island but worked in Bukit Mertajam. She said the spate of different MCOs have caused her to use all of her 20 paid leave days just to take care of her four-year-old daughter when the daycare centres are closed.
“Now I am left with unpaid leave days which I can’t afford to take.”
Four interest groups led by Persatuan Majikan Pusat Pendidikan Malaysia have called for clearer SOPs and for the government to sort itself out.
The groups said bureaucracy in the form of jurisdiction by two separate ministries — the education ministry and the women, family and community development ministry — was making dealings difficult.
They said a single ministry should handle all taska (preschool), tadika (kindergartens), childcare centres and tuition centres so that all procedures are standardised.