Parliamentary Committee has recommended re-enforcing the law that prevents mothers with children under the age of 05 from leaving for foreign employment, the Communications Department of Parliament said.
The recommendation was made by the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Children, Women and Gender Relations which met in the Parliament Complex recently.
It was discussed that the impact on the growing child of 0-5 years of age without their mother’s care will have a huge social impact in the next 20-25 years.
According to the Ministry Circular No. 02/2023, permission has been given for mothers with children aged 02 and above to go abroad, whereby 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, and because the children are deprived of care from a young age due to the mother moving 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, that daycare centers are not properly registered and the data related to daycare centers 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 Daycare Centres in Sri Lanka compiled and published by the National Child Protection Authority.
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