Agreements to establish 23 nurseries under the National Employment Program
04-01-2019
Ministries of Labor, Health and Social Development, Royal Medical Services, NCFA and Employment-Technical and Vocational Education and Training Fund (E-TVET Fund) signed three cooperation agreements in implementation of the “National employment Program” to establish 23 nurseries under its “Support and Activation of the Establishment of Nurseries in the Public and Private Sectors Project” aimed to encourage women to engage in the labor market which is one of the projects of the National Employment Strategy.
Agreements were signed by Minister of Health Mahmoud Al-Shayyab, Minster of Social Development Hala Bseiso, Acting NCFA Secretary General Mohammad Miqdady and Royal Medical Services General Director Dr. Muein Al-Habashneh.
Agreements aim to establish nurseries in the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Development and the Royal Medical Services and its affiliate directorates and provide job opportunities within these nurseries for female job seekers listed in the Civil Service Bureau.
Minister of Labor/Chairman of the Board at (E-TVET Fund) Samir Said Murad said that the Ministry seeks to affirm the rights of women and working mothers through legislation such as Article (72) of the Labor Law which obligates the existence of on-site nurseries for working mothers.
Dr. Shayyab pointed out that the availability of nurseries in all ministries and public and private institutions reflects and even exceeds the many positive improvements witnessed at the level of the family and society in this regard. This demands the collaboration of governmental and non-governmental efforts to raise awareness on the rights of working mothers to have nurseries at their workplaces.
On her part, Bseiso underlined that the establishment of nurseries in the public and private sectors comes in implementation of existing legislation and helps to provide proper environment for working mothers, achieve social and psychological stability for them and encourage them to engage in a variety of jobs.
“The agreements focus on the National Human Resource Development Strategy one of the pillars of which is early childhood care and development”, said Dr. Mohammad Hamdan, member of NCFA’s Board of Trustees, noting that the objective is to establish 80 nurseries, train around 700 girls and provide 500 work opportunities in the area of early childhood.
“The establishment of nurseries increases the percentage of women participation in the labor market and enhances the options available for women by removing obstacles and offering flexible choices and an appropriate work environment”, said Habashneh the Director of the Royal Medical Services.
On his part, Miqdady indicated that the signing is in implementation of the National Employment Strategy launched by the government and in complementation to a cooperation agreement between NCFA and the Ministry of Labor signed earlier to establish 80 nurseries in the public and private sectors. The national program, as Miqdady emphasized, serves as a model for the participatory approach that HM King Abdullah calls for among government institutions, NGOs and the private sector.
As Miqdady outlined, NCFA seeks to make these nurseries a nucleus for a specialized comprehensive center for early childhood which serves children according to up-to-date educational programs and provides work opportunities for graduates specialized in Child Education in addition to being a center for early childhood studies.
