Mr. Anthony Evans Amoah, Western Regional Minister, on Saturday said Day Care centres are being streamlined to ensure proper care, protection and development of children. He stated this in an address read for him at the graduation of 46 Day Care Attendants after three months training by the Department of Social Welfare at Takoradi. The theme for the programme was: "Day Care Centre and Empowerment of Women". For this reason, Mr Amoah appealed to the Department of Social Welfare to live up to its oversight responsibilities and ensure that Day Care Centres do well in the provision of the right facilities for the total upbringing of children. He said the department should not hesitate to close down centres, which exhibit clear and deliberate unwillingness to upgrade their standard since the welfare and interest of children cannot be compromised. Mr. Amoah said most pre-schools defy the curricula appropriately developed for them and go their own way to teach topics far and above the level of development of pre-school children. Mr. Amoah said some Day Care Attendants receive as little as 200,000 cedis a month as salary. He said this is absolutely inadequate and inconsistent with the government's salary and wage policy. Mr Amoah urged proprietresses and parents to do something about this in order to raise the morale of the attendants. In an address read for her, Mrs Gladys Asmah, Minister of Fisheries and Member of Parliament for Takoradi said Day Care Centres cannot be ruled out if women are to be empowered properly to participate effectively in all levels of decision-making. She said this is because in the process of empowering women, there is the need for professional support for the care of the home, especially the care of children. Mrs. Asmah who spoke on the theme said Day Care Centres are essential and may be more important in the coming years as the pace of development and industrialization accelerates. Mrs Asmah urged the Department of Social Welfare and other stakeholders in the running and monitoring of the centres to purge the system of undesirables. She said women are mostly excluded from decision-making although they are active in communities, governments, the international community, groups and organisations. Mrs Asmah said, "Participation means that people are closely involved in the economic, social, cultural and political processes that affect their lives". She said, "Participation for women in this sense is an essential element of human development". Mr. Steven Adongo, Deputy Director of the Department of Social Welfare, said the training was to adequately equip and sharpen childcare skills of the attendants. Miss Joana Mensah, Regional Director of the Department of Social Welfare, said the training should be held at the National Day Care Training Centre in Accra but the department has no money to organise it countrywide for attendants. Miss Mensah appealed to corporate bodies, philanthropists and stakeholders to assist the department to organise more training programmes in the region. Source: GNA