Education | With the lack of nurseries, authorities suggest at-home parenting

The Social Welfare Bureau is encouraging local parents to consider half-day childcare services for their children amid the limited availability of child nurseries in the city. It also suggested that families with children under the age of two should resort to at-home parenting instead of using childcare services.
As of March this year, there were a total of 48 nurseries available across the city, with roughly 8,300 places available. However, this number can only allegedly serve 40 percent of the local infant population. Experiencing difficulties in responding to the city’s mounting demand for daytime childcare services, the bureau has urged parents to turn to half-day services or to take care of their children themselves, providing that their family conditions are allowing.
According to a report published by Macau Daily News, studies on infant development suggest that the younger the children, the more individual care they need from their families in their upbringing, especially those aged under two.
The Social Welfare Bureau states the parents who wish for their children to socialize with those of a similar age, in order to prepare them for the next level of schooling, could resort to half-day services to meet this purpose.
The city’s unified recruitment for daycare services will commence in two periods: from April 1 to May 31; and then again from May 1 to August 20. Around 80 percent of the government-funded crèches will announce their admission results on or before May 20 in the first period. According to the bureau, the number of nurseries that offer an online application process has soared from 15 last year to 26 this year.
Currently 37 of the local childcare service providers are located on the Macau peninsula, while the rest are in Taipa. The ratio of full-day services to their half-day counterparts is around seven to three. To optimize the government-funded childcare centres’ admission procedures for local parents, the bureau has established a set of “procedure guidelines” for the city’s daycare providers. This is in order to prevent parents from queuing outside their premises, and to enhance the transparency of information in admission services. Staff reporter