No daycare for children with special needs
Every day, Fatima Islam fights a silent war to protect her 12-year-old daughter, Nisha, who has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), from a society that is yet to fully embrace children with special needs.
Fatima shared the pain of dealing with judgmental neighbours who often make hurtful comments, while their children bully Nisha.
Nisha is a student of Society for the Welfare of the Intellectually Disabled (SWID), Bangladesh.
"I completed post-graduation and wanted to join a job. But I could not since I have to take care of my daughter all day and there is no daycare facility for children like her," Fatima said.
Masuma Farzana, a mother from Khilgaon, echoed the same.
Every day, from morning till noon, she anxiously awaits outside the classroom of her only son Adnan, 23.
Adnan also suffers from ASD and was admitted to SWID Bangladesh when he was 12. He is currently pursuing vocational training at the institute. "It takes time for my son to understand lessons and conversations. I am his only friend," said Masuma, who had to give up her business to look after Adnan.
"If there were specialised care centres for differently-abled children, they could have had a better development growing up. It would have also allowed parents like me to have a shot at our professional careers," she added.
Parveen Sultana, a mother from Lalmatia, is also facing similar struggles as Nehar, her 18-year-old daughter, is suffering from down syndrome. "Since Nehar was born, I have only been focusing on her care," said Parveen.
Stressing the lack of specialised child care facilities, many others like Fatima, Parveen and Masuma shared similar experiences.
According to them, their children need constant care and attention, which is stressful, tiring and often leads to fatigue and a loss of patience.
At present, there are 63 daycare centres operational under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, including 20 under the Department of Women Affairs and 43 under the Child Day Care Centre Project.
However, none of those offer facilities for children with disabilities and special needs, mentioned joint secretary Shabnam Mustari, director of the Child Day Care Centre Project.
"The biggest barrier to initiating this facility is an acute lack of skilled people who are equipped with the knowledge on ways to handle and take care of differently-abled children," she said.
Befriending children from the mainstream can influence the development of the differently-abled ones. However, each child reacts differently and that prevents them from attending mainstream daycare centres, she added.
She called for a collective effort from ministries to develop and design better health and educational facilities for children with special needs.
Mahmudul Hasan, assistant director of SWID Bangladesh, believes daycare centres, designed specifically for children with psychological disabilities, will provide a safe nest for them, while their parents, especially mothers, can go to work.
The National Disability Development Foundation's intention to establish such facilities on their campus was hindered by insufficient funds.
"We are not thinking about the daycare project at the moment," said additional secretary Ruhul Amin Khan, managing director of the foundation.
Currently, 103 disability service and aid centres are functional under the foundation countrywide.
Joint secretary Md Shah Alam, managing director of Neuro-Developmental Disability Protection Trust, said, "There are no specilised day care centres for children with disabilities at the moment. However, we are planning something in this line and will proceed as soon as the government permits."
It is noteworthy that daycare facilities for children with disabilities are not mentioned in the Child Day Care Centers Act, 2021.
(Names of parents and children have been changed to protect their identities.)