DHAKA, Jan 12, 2025 (BSS) - The Matuail Day Care Centre appears to be a safe place for children of mothers working in waste management as the centre takes care of the two to seven years old babies the day long when their parents are involved in cleanliness jobs. 

The day care centre situated at Matuail Dumping Station of Dhaka South City Corporation comprises a big room, nursing 121 children as their mothers are in works.

Graam Bangla Unnyan Committee runs the centre as it has two teachers to give lesson to the children while they were taught with playing; even they were fed meals by assistants.

Rahela, a mother of two children, works at Matuail Dumping Station. Her husband also works there. She scavenges garbage to find goods having sale value as her husband takes those to the shops for sell by van. 

Rahela works in the dumping site from morning to noon. After the work, she come back home while her husband returns home more lately. During their works, their three and a half year old child Moshtaq stays in the day care centre.

Like Rahela, many parents go to works leaving their children at the day care centre. 

Officials of the centre said it remains open from 6am to 6pm. The children are given breakfast in the morning, lunch at noon and snacks in the afternoon. The children are also given lesson from the centre.

Monitoring Evolution and Learning Assistant Director of the organisation Saima Saeed said the Graam Bangla Unnoyan Committee has also build a primary school beside the centre for the children. The parents bring their children with dirty body as they are not aware about it, she said.

She also said that her colleagues are doing all works of the children including cleaning them and their cloths. They are working in three shifts - morning, afternoon and evening. The committee is also running a training centre, she added.

Advocacy Network manager of the organisation Md Abul Bashar said a doctor visits the centre every week to see the health condition of the children.

He said they are providing all types of medicine to the children while few medicine for parents as they suffer from cold and skin diseases for their works in wastage management.

Its Executive Director AKM Maksud said the mothers used to bring their children at their workplace before establishing the centre. 

He said they have been working for developing the livelihood of the people from 2008 and the day care centre begun its journey in 2012.

 He said the centre and the school are going on in full swing since 2015.