Fri, 26 Apr 2024

Funds meant for frontliner’s childcare (TASKA) channeled for other purposes

On 23 October, 2020

From the audit conducted in July 2018, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) found that 541 Government agencies do not have TASKAs (childcare facilities) in the workplace.

In 2019, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government allocated RM10 million to establish 50 TASKAs for new workplaces in government agencies and had success establishing 65 TASKAs nationwide overall.

For Budget 2020 under the PH government, the Ministry of Finance allocated RM30 million, which is three times the amount allocated in 2019 for this purpose. However, only RM5.5 million of the budget was spent on building 34 new TASKAs. The increase to RM30 million should have been able to build at least 200 TASKAs for the frontliners.

***The current Ministry of Women, Family and Community development ministers have only used 18.3% of the allocated funds on setting up new TASKAs.***

I have been informed that the remaining RM24.5 million has been channeled for other purposes, namely PENJANA (including allocating one-off grant for private TASKAs).

The unfortunate reality is, there are still many frontliners who do not have sufficient childcare support. Many have been forced to apply for leave to take care of their children or send their children to a private childcare.

***More than 50% of respondents on Hannah’s twitter poll admits to having applied for leave to take care of their children***

Sending a child to private childcare can be pricey due to the unpredictable nature of shift work for frontliners. The issue of providing TASKAs in the workplace for these ‘frontliners’ is crucial to ensure Malaysia fights Covid-19 successfully. How can we expect frontliners to perform their duties effectively while they worry about the welfare of their families?

Baby Adam’s mother was a nurse at Hospital Kuala Lumpur and she had to hire a babysitter to look after her son. This tragic case spurred the Pakatan Harapan government to look into free childcare facilities for civil servants that worked shift hours like nurses and other frontliners .

Therefore, I urge the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) to reinstate the RM30 million allocated in Budget 2020 for its original purpose, which is to establish more TASKAs in the workplace for ‘frontliners’ especially in hospitals, police stations and other government agencies. The 2021 budget must make this a priority.