Creches' short working hours put parents in a bind

CHENNAI:It was the second day in a row that Abinava Krishnamurthy had to leave workearly to pick up his two-and-a-half-year-old from a day-care centre. It was 8pm, and the creche, which had closed a while ago, wouldn't keep the baby anylonger. Abinava and his wife Anupama are finding it increasingly difficult tomanage after the birth of their son, as both are IT professionals with irregularand often unpredictable working hours."It's difficult to find aplace that suits our needs. My husband and I don't have fixed working hours. Thecreche, like most in the city, closes at 7. I work in Ambattur and coming backall the way takes few hours, considering the traffic," says AnupamaShankar.The couple is not alone a number of working couples in the city are plagued by this problem. Once they start a family, they are faced with the problem of finding a suitable day-care centre. Often, private creches don't provide the comfort that both the child and the parent look for. As the child may spend long hours there, parents have a long list of requirements, including safety, hygiene and timings.Sangeetha Pillai, a journalist, says,"We found it hard to manage after we moved to Chennai from Delhi in 2006. Ireach home after work by 8.30 pm. There are very few creches here and they allclose by 6 pm or 7 pm."Creche owners say that they make adjustmentsto accommodate parents' needs. "We used to close at 6 pm but have extended ourtimings to 7 pm as parents asked for it," says Sujatha Vaidyanathan, owner ofBamboola, a private creche in RA Puram.Starting a day-care centre iseasy as there aren't any rules and regulations. "There are no standards orregulation for creches or day-care centres, be it private or government-run.Private creches are mushrooming, and there is no one to check or to set a listof do-s and don't-s for them. Many charge heavily and lack trained people," saysShanmughavelayutham, convenor of Tamil Nadu Forum for creche and childcarecentres (TN-FORCES) and professor at the department of social work, LoyolaCollege. Even private creche owners agree that getting the rightpeople is a challenge. "I trained in childcare in the US and I know that it'shard to find the right manpower. Training those who have never done this beforeis tough," says Sujatha.Shanmughavelayutham says the governmentshould make it mandatory for all organisations, private or public, to havecreches in the office. "You cannot expect a mother to give 100% to her job, whenshe knows her child is with strangers. Research shows that productivityincreases when parents are not worried." He says that a few governmentorganisations have done this but there is still a long way togo.