Creche support for kids as young moms write exam

Kolkata: While mothers were attending exams for the state-level selection test conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission, their children were being looked after at a creche. Priyanka Ghosh, a candidate, along with her two-and-a-half-month-old baby, went to the exam centre at Hooghly Engineering & Technology College. The Hooghly education department office, which was 100 metre away from the centre, arranged a makeshift creche to support the mothers.There were five children, within the age group of 2 months to five years, accommodated in the creche while their mothers were taking exams. Pranab Mandal, the education officer of Hooghly, said, "We heard that one candidate was standing outside the exam centre with her 2-and-a-half-month-old baby and immediately opened two rooms — one AC and another non-AC for them. All these arrangements were made within a short while. The support staff from the health department took care of them. There were eight creches arranged across the Hooghly district, keeping this issue in mind."Prosenjit Ghosh, the father of the two-and-a-half-month-old baby, said, "It was a great help for us because it was extremely hot today and it would have been very difficult for me to handle the child alone as my wife entered the exam centre much before the examination started. The people at the creche took care of my child."