Parents who wish to return to work or study will be able to use free childcare services from April.

The government hopes this move will increase the number of women employees, which has gone up by four per cent over the past year.

Only 19 per cent of Malta’s pre-kindergarten age children attend childcare centres, the lowest proportion in the EU, according to Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.

There are currently 2,200 children at the 70 centres in Malta, of which 55 are private, he told a press conference in Vittoriosa yesterday.

This number would hopefully double, as the childcare service is an incentive for women to study or work, he noted.

All working parents will be able choose whether to send their child to a public or private centre, including those who already use such services. The scheme does not apply to stay-at-home parents.

The government will ensure children have a quality, educational experience, as it does not want youngsters to be simply parked at the centres.

Children’s linguistic, intuitive and emotive development depended a lot on their first 1,000 days, so their learning experience at the centres was imperative, the minister noted. Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, who was also at the launch, said an initial €4 million was being invested in the scheme, which is part of an economic plan.

Women at home were a treasure that was not being utilised, he said. Some of these mothers could not work because they had no one to leave their children with or could not afford childcare centres.