The development of the national legal framework for creating alternative education services, including through public-private partnerships, is one of the solutions that can enable to extend the alterative childcare services offered by employers and to help women return to paid work, promoting this way gender equality, says a study entitled “Alternative Childcare Options” that was conducted by UN Women Moldova and the Center “Partnership for Development” (CPD), IPN reports.
The study authors suggest several solutions for facilitating the employment and return to work of parents with children at a faster pace without negatively influencing the childcare process. In particular, it goes to the creation of a special work regime. This option envisions the founding of a center with an incomplete work program or of a relevant service. Also, there can be founded new legal entities or crèche services with the provision of childcare vouchers and others. These options can satisfy the needs of working persons with children younger than three and of employers.
To implement the given options, the national legal framework needs to be amended so as to facilitate the creation of family-friendly jobs and to institute private early education services that ensure services of a high quality. The legal framework applying to private education institutions needs to be reviewed so as to introduce annual reporting for these institutions to see how they meet the education and childcare standards.
There should be designed a law and the mechanism for providing childcare vouchers and adjusted the standard regulations for the functioning of early education institutions. A nationwide program is needed to extend the crèche services, including by fascinating the opening of alternative childcare services by the employer.
According to the study, despite the legislative changed adopted by Moldova with the aim of facilitating the parents’ access to the labor market, the parents meet with difficulties in benefiting from the new amendments.
In 2018, only the fifth part of the children younger than two benefited from ante-preschool education. The EU’s practice shows that childcare solutions are needed to ensure the women’s full participation in the labor market, by satisfying parents’ needs during the work program and school vacations.
