The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Many private Early Childhood Care and Development Centers (ECCD) in the capital are open for the new 2023 admission while a few of the centers will announce the new admission on February 2023.
The government ECCD centers will reopen on 1st March 2023 and the admission for government ECCD centers depends on the schedule in each dzongkhag. The enrolment age for the children is from two and a half years to five years old.
The Proprietor of Tiny Toes Daycare in Changgidaphu, Thimphu said they operate the entire year and they don’t actually have summer or winter breaks because most parents are working parents and don’t get winter or summer breaks, so that is why the center has kept it open the entire year.
The center accepts infants (six months) to five years old children. The reason for accepting six month toddlers is because there are so many mothers who work and no one to look after their kids. That is the sole reason she opened it to try it out.
However, the center has already started the new admission for children from three years to five years old but closed for infants.
The center accepts about 10 to 15 students in each class and a total of 45 students. “We are taking fewer students so that we can focus more on the students,” said the Proprietor.
The Proprietor highlighted challenges that unlike in the past, getting ECCD/daycare licenses is quite easy now, and with that comes the centers with no training or experience with a very low fee structure. The parents go for that and ignore the comfort of the child in terms of caregiving and education, she said.
Another issue that the daycare center is facing is that the private schools are still accepting very young children in Pre-Primary
The proprietor of the Happy Feet ECCD in Thimphu said many parents are already coming for campus visits and many parents have already registered for admission online. The ECCD center will be reopening on 16th January 2023 for the old children and by February, the admission for new students will be announced.
With the COVID-19 pandemic not over, the center follows all the COVID-19 safety protocols.
According to the ministry of education and skill development, children starting from three years and above are enrolled in the ECCD but the center is taking in children from one and a half years old.
Similarly, the proprietor of Play and Learn ECCD will be open for new admission from 6th February 2023 and the center will be taking in children from two and half years old to five and half years old. They take in a maximum of 15 students in each class.
She said, unlike the shortage of government ECCD facilitators, private ECCD do not have any issues but they do have challenges of not getting enough training for the facilitators.
Meanwhile, the Ministry emphasizes on the importance of the ECCD programs to harness the potential of children from an early age.
Today, there are 495 ECCD centers with 10,026 ECCD children and 947 ECCD Facilitators of both privately operated and Government supported community ECCD programs across the country.
