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DOHA: Several parents with children in nurseries (creches) say that they have been taken by surprise by a clause in the admission form saying the facilities are not responsible for any injury or loss.
They say that they have been forced to sign a paper declaring the “non-liability” of the facilities.
“Why do nurseries in Qatar make us sign a paper that says they are not responsible for injury or loss? Then who is responsible if something happens to our child? I am going public with this because I believe it has to be reviewed as soon as possible,” says Maria Grepsiou Bergman, an expat woman who has stirred a debate on the issue on social media.
The Peninsula has learnt during interactions with several residents that some creches (particularly those operating in Old Airport and West Bay localities) ask the parents to sign a no-liability form. Some parents have signed the form with the controversial clause under compulsion while some others refused to do so.
The issue has triggered a heated debate on social media.
“Every nursery has this clause. I remember a lady whose child fell in the small swimming pool of a nursery and nobody noticed. The child was later taken to the emergency unit,” said Lina Francis.
Mustafa Reyad said that he had refused to sign the controversial form when a nursery insisted on that and ultimately found another facility. Basil Pathrose said that it was definitely not an official requirement in Qatar and urged parents to take up the issue with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs which is responsible for monitoring nurseries.
He said as per his knowledge only two nurseries he had searched (in Old Airport and West Bay localities) had this no-liability form.
“We questioned them about it. As expected, they were just following orders of the owner/sponsor, and had limited knowledge about childcare and had been told to generate more fees,” he said, adding: “Why would you put your child in a nursery that does not take responsibility for the kids under their care and absolves itself of any injury or death within the nursery?”
Requesting anonymity, an employee of a nursery told The Peninsula that some nurseries had adopted this approach to avoid possible future litigation.
He said sometimes children get injured due to their own mischief and the nursery management had to face legal cases.
Nurseries more careful after Villaggio tragedy
He said that some nurseries had gone extra careful after the 2012 Villaggio incident that took the life of 13 children. It is pertinent to mention here that Qatar government had introduced strict regulations governing day care centers and nurseries in the wake of the Villaggio Mall incident.
“I can remember signing something similar too, at a well known “good” British nursery in Al Waab,” said Emma Spiers, adding: “I don’t know if there is an issue here with parents suing nurseries, but with my son’s nursery I felt the management clearly took covering their backsides very seriously. Any complaint I put to them in writing they never replied in writing ever, only by phone call.”
Marwa Atef says she refused sending her kids to any nursery that had this requirement. “There are other nurseries that don’t insist for that and my impression is that they would be more trustworthy,” she said.
Renee Koval, another expat came defending the nurseries, saying: “Otherwise teachers can be jailed if your child does have a minor accident. For example, you child is using child safe scissors under teacher’s supervision, he accidentally cuts himself a little bit, nothing major, as they are child-safe. The parents can go to the police and have the teacher arrested, for a true accident.”
