Regional conference urges investment in early childhood care

AMMAN — The Ministry of Social Development and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Monday opened a regional conference advocating investment in early childhood care and education to form a more gender-equal Arab community.

The two-day conference features discussions on international policies and tools for early childhood care and education services, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

In her opening remarks, Minister of Social Development Wafa Bani Mustafa stressed the importance of His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives to make social protection part of economic and administrative reforms, pointing to Her Majesty Queen Rania’s dedication to encourage investing in early childhood education.

Bani Mustafa noted that Jordan has launched a women’s empowerment strategy that features initiatives to establish nurseries due to their significant role in enhancing women’s economic participation.

The ministry submitted a project proposal to establish 1,500 nurseries, both home-based and institutional, in public and private institutions and for women working in the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF), the Public Security Directorate and the Royal Jordanian Air Force, Bani Mustafa said.

Director of the Social Security Corporation, Mohammad Tarawneh, noted that the corporation spent JD1.6 billion to cover early retirement, pension, permanent disability and expenditure on maternity and unemployment programmes in 2022. 

Oliver Loang, Head of the Public and Private Services Unit at the ILO in Geneva, said that only seven out of 18 countries in the region provide early childhood care services, which means that some 80 million children are deprived of such services.

Loang added that investing in early childhood education and care is a “profitable deal”, as it supports gender equality and can generate around 5.8 million job opportunities.