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Letters | Why Hong Kong needs to take bigger steps on childcare: new standards are a return to the 1970s
- The focus of the latest policy address on children’s development, rather than simply on providing care, is commendable
- However, the proposed improvement in the carer to child ratio is a return to the standards of legislation in 1976
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Why you can trust SCMP
The 2018 Policy Address announced an improvement in childcare services in Hong Kong. Though most of its details are still unknown, two points are clear. Unfortunately, they are contradictory.
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First, the ultimate goal of all these improvements is facilitation of children’s development. More importantly, this recognises the nature of childcare services as integrating development and care. Even though it has long been accepted by professionals related to children’s issues, foreign governments and transnational organisations around the world, the term “children’s development” rarely appeared in previous governments’ policy objectives on childcare services.
Compared with previous terms of administration which only focused on care, the move in the recent policy address is undoubtedly a step forward.
Second, the existing staffing ratios for qualified childcare workers serving childcare centres will be enhanced. According to the government’s document, the qualified childcare worker to children ratios will be improved from 1:8 (for children under two years old) to 1:6, and from 1:14 (for children aged two to under three) to 1:11. However, the former is the ratio requested by the Child Care Services Regulations passed in 1976 but which was amended to a lower standard in 1980. In other words, the “improvement” brings child care centres’ standard back to the original provision in the 1970s.
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