High negative impact on young children when mothers work abroad: SOC

The report to be submitted to the Parliament regarding the issues and recommendations related to the safety and care of children between the ages of 0 to 5 years of working women in Sri Lanka was considered at the Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on Children, Women, and Gender.

It was discussed in the SOC that the impact on the growing child of 0 to 5 years of age without the mother’s care will have a huge social impact in the next 20 to 25 years.

The SOC on Children, Women and Gender met on December 8 at the Parliament premises under the chairmanship of the Member of Parliament Talatha Athukorala.

According to Ministry Circular No. 02/2023, permission has been given for mothers with children aged twoand above to go abroad, thereby the child loses the ability to receive breast milk, and the bond between mother and child is also lost, the committee emphasized.

Furthermore, it was discussed that the loss of the mother from a young age is likely to result in a very violent generation in the future. Because children are deprived of care from a young age due to the mother going abroad, there is a tendency for those children to be involved in drugs and other criminal activities in the future. It was also discussed that since children are under someone else’s care, they can be molested not only by neighbours, but also by close relatives such as fathers and grandfathers.

It was emphasized that there is a strong need for daycare centres that operate based on safe and formal recommendations for children in early childhood.

It was further discussed that there is no specific institution for the regulation and supervision of daycare centres. Further, daycare centres are not properly registered and the data related to daycare centres is very deficient.

The committee was of the opinion that the above problems can be avoided by following the provisions of the National Guidelines for Child Day Care Centres in Sri Lanka compiled and published by the National Child Protection Authority.

Accordingly, it was recommended by the SOC on Children, Women, and Gender to regulate the quality of daycare centres in Sri Lanka and to re-enforce the law that prevented mothers with children under the age of five from leaving for foreign employment.

The members of the SOC, Muditha Prishanthi, Dullas Alahapperuma, D. Weerasinghe, Manjula Dissanayake, and with the permission of the Committee Chair, J.C. Alawathuwala were present at the Committee meeting.

Officials representing the National Child Protection Authority, Department of Probation and Child Care Services, National Secretariat for Early Childhood Development and a group of youth representatives appointed to the Sectoral Oversight Committee also participated in this meeting.

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