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JOHOR BARU – The Social Welfare Department has immediately closed a nursery believed to be involved in the case of the abuse of two babies in Mutiara Rini, Skudai after it was confirmed to have operated without a licence.
Johor Women, Family and Community Development Committee chairman Khairin-Nisa Ismail@Md On said the childcare centre’s two other branches in Jalan Abd Samad and Gelang Patah have also been closed.
Khairin-Nisa, who inspected the nursery yesterday, also met the nursery operator and sought further clarification on the matter.
“I found that the nursery has not yet obtained a licence from the Social Welfare Department because it has not yet obtained permission from the local authorities – the Johor Health Department and the Fire and Rescue Department.
“If permission has not been obtained from these three parties, the department cannot issue a licence. Even before this, we had advised them not to operate without a licence but they were stubborn and continued to operate.
“As such, the three nurseries were immediately closed by the state Social Welfare Department under Section 20a of the Child Care Centre Act 1984,” she said when contacted, here, yesterday, adding that she also advised parents to check with the department whether the childcare centres they send their children to are licensed to operate.
Earlier, two videos had gone viral showing two babysitters in a nursery roughing up babies, drawing various reactions from netizens. Following that, a woman believed to be a babysitter at the nursery was remanded for four days from yesterday. – Bernama, May 17, 2023