Toddlers and babies are Mcast's new 'students'

Toddlers and babies may start "attending" the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology after a new childcare centre was inaugurated there.

With paintbrush in hand, three of the centre's first child-residents demonstrated their skills as they splashed multi-coloured smudges on a large white sheet... and on each other.

"Family lifestyle has changed and, nowadays, the mother no longer stays home with her children. Women, more than ever, are furthering their studies and working," Education Minister Dolores Cristina said before unveiling the plaque and inaugurating the Magic Wonders' childcare centre at the college in Paola.

"We all have a right to personal fulfilment so parents need to be able to leave their children in a safe place when they go out to work. That is why childcare centres are manned by professional staff," she stressed.

Mrs Cristina said that childcare centres were not "parking spots" for children. They did not merely offer babysitting services but provided education and care to young children.

The Paola centre is co-funded by the European Union and will take 25 children, from newborn to three years of age. It will be open to sons and daughters of Mcast students and staff members as well as to children whose parents live or work in the area.

Mrs Cristina said that the government hoped to open such centres in all localities and had already done so in Għargħur, Luqa, Cottonera, Birkirkara and at the University of Malta. Works were being completed to open other centres in Pembroke, Siġgiewi, Qawra and the Junior College.

In an effort to up standards in childcare centres, earlier this year Social Policy Minister John Dalli launched a €500,000 EU-funded scheme that runs over four years.

The scheme can be used to help registered care centres, 42 in total, improve their facilities or help new operators enter the field.

The centres are also a step towards achieving EU goals of having 41 per cent of women working by 2010.

Recent figures published by the National Statistics Office showed that, last year, 29 per cent of all women were employed compared to 63 per cent of men. According to Eurostat figures the vast majority of Maltese children under five years of age still stay at home with their mothers or with their grandparents.