Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-10-17

Expansion and Improvement of Daycare Facilities for Children

- Presently, the women labour force participation in the national labour force is only 36% and the constraint for increasing it further due to women resigning from their jobs and their lack of interest on being employed because of the responsibility of childcare placed on them has been identified as the lack of adequate facilities for childcare. Since, a considerable number of women with a higher level of education could be harnessed in obtaining their contributions to the economy of the country, the Government has identified that priority should be accorded further for the enhancement of this sector through the development of affordable and high quality daycare facilities in the country.

According to a survey carried out by the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, it has been revealed that around 24,000 children are taken care of, in 1,200 daycare centres managed by both the Government and the private sector in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe, the Prime Minister in his capacity as the Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, to appoint a Committee comprising of the representatives of the Government, the Provincial Councils and the Private Sector to study the further expansion and enhancement of the child daycare facilities in Sri Lanka, identifying the problems pertaining to the field, was approved by the Cabinet.