XN000022-1977-03-26 — Page 4

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SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 1977

NEW PLACES IN SUBVENTED CHILD CARE CENTRES

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AT LEAST 1,094 NEW PLACES IN SUBVENTED CHILD CARE CENTRES HAVE ALREADY BEEN PROVIDED FOR CHILDREN IN PUBLIC HOUSING ESTATES IN THE COMING FINANCIAL YEAR.

SOME 194 PLACES ARE MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH EXPANSION OF SUBVENTED CENTRES NOW ALREADY OFFERING SUCH SERVICES, ANOTHER 900 PLACES WILL BE CREATED IN CENTRES WHICH ARE TO OPEN THE IR DOORS IN THE COMING YEAR.

TWO OF THE NEW CENTRES ARE LOCATED IN KWAI SHING ESTATE. OTHERS ARE IN OF MAN, TAI HING, PAK TIN, CHEUNG CHING, LAI KING AND LAU FOU SHAN,

FOR THOSE VOLUNTARY WELFARE AGENCIES WHO ARE INTERESTED IN CHILD CARE WORK, PREMISES SPECIALLY RESERVED FOR NURSERIES ARE STILL AVAILABLE AT SOME EXISTING HOUSING ESTATES AND THOSE SOON TO BE COMPLETED.

THEY ARE AT LAI YIU, CHEUNG CHING, PAK TIN, SHUN LEE TSUEN ESTATES.

SHEK LEI, SAU MAU PING, TAI HING SHEK KIP MEI (RE-DEVELOPMENT) AND

AGENCIES WHO WANT TO EXTEND THEIR SERVICE TO THESE PLACES CAN ASK FOR DETAILS FROM THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT SECTION OF THE SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT.

MEANWHILE, THERE ARE ONLY ABOUT TWO MONTHS LEFT FOR EXISTING CHILD CARE CENTRES TO REGISTER WITH THE SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT IF THEY WANT TO MAKE USE OF THE PERIOD OF GRACE ALLOWED FOR MEETING THE NEW STANDARDS.

BEFORE MAY 31 THEY CAN STILL REGISTER IN THE FIRST INSTANCE ON SATISFYING CERTAIN MINIMUM STANDARDS. THEY WILL THEN BE GIVEN SUFFICIENT TIME TO BRING THEIR ESTABLISHMENT UP TO THE REQUIRED FULL STANDARDS.

BY THE END OF THIS MONTH (MARCH), THE CHILD CARE CENTRES ADVISORY INSPECTORATE OF THE DEPARTMENT HAS ISSUED A TOTAL OF 234 APPLICATION FORMS TO PROSPECTIVE CHILD CARE CENTRE OPERATORS. GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS CONCERNED WITH SAFEGUARDING STANDARDS WERE AT THAT TIME PROCESSING 164 APPLICATIONS.

OF THE 164 APPLICANTS, 36 HAVE ALREADY BEEN ISSUED WITH CERTIFICATES BY THE HOUSING DEPARTMENT. 24 BY THE FIRE SERVICES DEPARTMENT AND 85 BY THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT. NINETEEN HAVE REGISTERED WITH THE SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT.

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