Najat Daham Al Abdullah
The Director of Family Affairs Department at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, Najat Daham Al Abdullah, has said that the Department is working to open more new nurseries out of Doha.
“The number of nurseries in Qatar reached 191 which are enrolling a total of 4,858 children as of August 2019,” said Najat Daham Al Abdullah in an interview with The Peninsula. She said that a large number of nurseries are being opened across the country including in cities and remote areas.
Speaking about the steps of the Family Affairs Department on encouraging employers to open nurseries at workplaces, Al Abdullah said: “Yes, we encourage establishment of nurseries at workplaces but they should comply with the required specifications and rules to suit specific work environment.”
She said that people can inform about activities of unlicensed nurseries by calling directly to Nursery Section at the Department or through the call centre of the Ministry or on its official website or visiting in person to Family Affairs Department at the Ministry.
Al Abdullah said that the Department of Family Affairs, which comprises five sections, including Family Development Section; Nurseries Section; Productive Families Section; Elderly and Special Needs Section and Juvenile Section, is responsible for the development of the entire family and society.
She said that the Nursery Section launched several initiatives and made remarkable achievements. “The key initiatives included The Healthy Teeth and Eye Preservation Initiative for Kindergarten Children in collaboration with the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) in 2019, initiative to explain the law No. (1) for the year 2014 to regulate nurseries for operators and directors of nurseries in cooperation with the Department of Legal Affairs of the Ministry in 2018,” said Al Abdullah.
She added that the Nursery Section had launched the Healthy Nutrition Initiative for Nursery Children in collaboration with a nutrition centre in 2017 and another initiative to celebrate the National Nursery Day in Public Parks in cooperation with the Public Parks Department in 2017.
Al Abdullah said Article No. 22 of Amiri Decree No 6 of 2016 on the administrative structure of the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs specifies the functions of Family Affairs Department.
She said that the functions include implementing national family strategies, plans and policies; increasing community awareness of family and social challenges and issues, their effects and ways to prevent them.
“The Department is also responsible to implement projects and programmes for women empowerment and children’s creativity culturally, educationally and recreational wise, in coordination with the competent governmental and non-governmental bodies,” said Al Abdullah.
She added that the Department also prepares and implements programmes to prevent juvenile delinquency, rehabilitates delinquents and fights against social problems among juveniles, and supervise the social welfare homes allocated for their care and rehabilitation.
The department takes necessary measures to care and protect children of unknown parentage. “The department helps released prisoners and recovering addicts and their families to adapt for social integration, and work to provide a safe environment and job opportunities for the released to prevent their return to delinquency, in coordination with the competent governmental and non-governmental bodies,” said Al Abdullah.
She said that the department proposes and implements national strategies, plans, policies and programmes for the elderly and persons with disabilities. “It directs the efforts of the institutions concerned with women and the family, with the aim of establishing development projects to empower individuals and families economically, and encourage them to become self-reliant.”
“The department develops and implements projects to support and develop productive families through training and the provision of support services. It provides areas for marketing the products under programmes of productive families,” said Al Abdullah. She said that the department issues licenses for establishing nurseries and also supervises and monitor them.
