DOHA: Qatar has imposed tough conditions for the licensing of child care facilities or nurseries after the Villaggio Mall fire tragedy of May 2012 in which several children died in an illegal crèche.
To begin with, rules ratified by the Cabinet stipulate that only Qatari graduates are entitled to apply to open a nursery.
Also, only a Qatari woman, also with a university degree, can be appointed as a nursery’s manager. The licensee, even if a woman, cannot be the manager.
The Cabinet yesterday approved a draft decision of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs setting rules for classifying nurseries and specifying the qualifications of their staff.
The decision also talks of licensing conditions for the nurseries and the licensing fee, as well as the fee nurseries would be charging for child care, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reports.
The Social Affairs section of the Labour Ministry has a Family Development Department (FDD), which is the licensing authority for the crèches (nurseries).
Children aged two months to four years can be left in the care of licensed nurseries and a nursery found having a child above four in its care will be punished.
An applicant wanting to set up a nursery must first seek a character certificate from the Criminal Evidence and Information Department — CEID of the Interior Ministry — that undertakes finger printing.
Likewise, the manager and staff members of a licensed nursery must also seek those certificates from the CEID.
The application for licensing then goes to the Civil Defense Directorate of the Interior Ministry. Its inspectors will visit the premises of a potential nursery and check if the place is safe from risks like fire.
Children in all nurseries must be kept on the ground floor. The Traffic Department is informed later and its officials will need to clear the premises saying they are safe to house a nursery.
Then, business registration and licensing will be required from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce. This ministry will also approve the nursery’s signboard.
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