IT has been a year since 5-month-old Adam Rayqal Mohd Sufi’s body was found stuffed in his babysitter’s freezer in Gombak.
If he was alive today, he would probably be walking, eating solids and have said his first words — milestones every parent eagerly anticipates.
He is not the only child Malaysia has failed. In the following months, reports of child abuse at the hands of irresponsible babysitters continued to make headlines.
Judging by these incidents, it appears that our society has a long way to go towards ensuring all parents have access to high-quality childcare.
Malaysians are quick to blame parents.
FIRST, for choosing to send their children to these unlicensed babysitters instead of regulated daycare institutions.
The Belanjawanku Reference Budget, launched by the Employees Provident Fund and Social Welfare Research Centre at Universiti Malaya earlier this year, said monthly childcare costs averaged RM650 for married couples with one or two children under age 6 — a huge sum for so many.
Given these financial constraints, who can blame desperate parents for making such decisions?
SECOND, mothers who prioritise working over staying at home are also condemned, even when the high costs of living force both parents to work.
This is in addition to the fact that caregiving responsibilities continue to be shouldered predominantly by women.
The Women, Family, and Community Development Ministry told parents to stop sending their children to unlicensed babysitters and made it mandatory for government offices to provide on-site taska. While these prompt responses are laudable, they mean little if economic circumstances force parents to choose cheaper options.
The government should explore subsidising childcare for working parents such as the Quebec childcare model.
Introduced in 1997, regulated childcare and family day homes operate on a sliding scale fee according to household income. Under this family-friendly policy, parents pay between RM23 and RM63 a day.
The Quebec childcare programme was found to have increased women’s participation in the labour force by nearly 20 percentage points between 1996 and 2016.
Given that 42.4 per cent of Malaysian women cite childcare as a reason for leaving the labour force, adopting this mechanism may encourage more women to re-enter the workforce and increase the country’s economic productivity.
Whatever the approach may be, policymakers must address the inaccessibility of high-quality childcare.
How many more children must suffer before this becomes a high-priority issue?
WAN FARIHAH AHMAD FAHMY
Post-graduate student, Universiti Malaya