What’s in the news?

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development implements the Centrally Sponsored National Crèche Scheme to provide day care facilities to children (age group of 6 months to 6 years) of working mothers. 
• It was launched in 2017.
• The Scheme provides an integrated package of the following services:
  • Day care facilities including sleeping facilities.
  • Early stimulation for children below 3 years and pre-school education for 3 to 6 years old children
  • Supplementary nutrition (to be locally sourced)
  • Growth monitoring
  • Health check-up and immunization.

Why in News?                     

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development has announced that the number of functional creches in the country under the National Creche Scheme during the last three years (2017­-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20) was 18040, 8018 and 6458 respectively.  
• Creches are not functional in the country since the outbreak of Coved-19 to prevent spread of the pandemic.

Reference:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1784149