DOHA: The local social media is poking fun at an advertisement that appeared in a local Arabic daily recently saying that a nursery was up for sale.
What has made people target criticise the ad and fun is that the sale offer in Arabic said that “not only the nursery but its staff members, its director and the children in its care were all up for grabs”.
The comments caught the attention of the regulator of crèches and it unleashed its inspectors asking them to see what was going on as nursery licences are non-transferable. It seems that as some crèches are up for sale in the wake of tighter rules to ensure children’s safety, the regulator is insisting they can’t be offered for sale without their approval.
The Family Development Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, which licenses and monitors childcare facilities, has also criticised the local newspaper for carrying an advertisement that solicits buyers for a nursery.
The Department’s head, Salwa Al Obaidly, said after she saw comments on social media, she asked the nursery section of her department to see what was going on with this nursery in Abu Hamour.
Talking of the content of the advertisement which she said was highly objectionable, she was critical of the newspaper as well.
She said: “This is the height of where a newspaper can take its commercial interest to and treat it above its social or moral responsibility,” Al Obaidly said in comments published by local Arabic daily Al Raya yesterday.
“You need to check the language before you accept an ad. The language used in the above ad is an insult to humans, children in particular.”
Moreover, the nurseries law does not allow a facility to be sold without the permission of her department, she said. It is because the licence issued to a nursery is non-transferable.
She said that her department will conduct thorough investigation and seek punitive action against the nursery, where it seems that the original licensee has died and there is internecine fighting in the management.
The Peninsula
