Zaiton pointed out that not all nurseries in Putrajaya are registered and as such it was difficult to monitor and regulate them.

Registered nurseries have to abide by strict rules and regulations to ensure children receive the best care possible in accordance with Child Act 611 and Child Care Centre Act 1984.

Under the Child Care Centre Act 1984, any childminder working at registered nurseries would need to undergo a compulsory basic PERMATA childcare course which comprises training on providing proper care, balanced diet and safety for infants and young children in childcare premises.

There are currently 63 registered nurseries in Putrajaya with 28 of them located within the workplace (as of March 8th 2022).

However, these numbers are hardly enough to cater to the population of children under 5 in Putrajaya – which, according to DOSM in 2020 are around 13,200. It is therefore unsurprising that a number of parents resort to engaging unregistered childcare services.

This action, however, can lead to some very serious consequences. 

However, it cannot be denied that children from lower income households are more likely to become stunted simply because they are more vulnerable to underlying determinants of the condition such as poor access to nutrition, healthcare and even proper sanitation.

Although childminders at registered nurseries and childcare centres are routinely trained and educated on proper care and feeding guidelines for infants and young children, those in unregistered centres may not be.

The waiting list to enrol in these centres may also not be as long and their rates cheaper, which make them the more attractive option for low-income parents.

Prof Dr Norhasmah Sulaiman who heads the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Universiti Putra Malaysia believes that this was also the case in Putrajaya.

Having control of nutritional intake in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life is crucial in preventing stunting. This is because failure to prevent or remedy the condition within that period may cause the child to spend an entire lifetime dealing with the repercussions of stunting, some of which includes poor academic performance, inability to get good jobs as adults and high susceptibility to illnesses.

Countries with high stunting prevalence also lose an average of 7 percent per capita income, according to a World Bank study.

Norhasmah said that the Health Ministry has put in concerted efforts to educate childminders at nurseries on proper feeding practices for children, but a lot more factors were at play.

Among them, she said, were parental education or more specifically, maternal education.

According to the NHMS 2016, an estimated 19.2 percent of Malaysian children aged 6-23 months do not achieve the prescribed minimum meal frequency, which is less than 4 times in a day.

There are other indicators that show childcare centres in Putrajaya may not have the best track record in safeguarding the welfare of children.

"If we look at the data, child abuse rates are also very high in Putrajaya nurseries. I believe that the high child abuse rate in Putrajaya are linked to the stunting rate as well," said Dr Amar HSS Singh, a former paediatrician with over forty years of experience serving the Health Ministry.

Garasi Bernama tried to obtain these data from the Welfare Department but they are not publicly available. Available data from the Welfare Department were simply a summary of abuse cases according to offences within the Children Act 2001. It did not provide the prevalence of such cases by states or childcare centres. 

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many households are finding it hard to keep up with monthly expenses with only one parent working. The pandemic has undoubtedly made the situation worse, forcing more people to seek employment to make ends meet. With both parents working, childcare would inevitably need to be outsourced.

"Welfare Department data shows there are only about 6000 licensed childcare centres or nurseries in the country. This is less than 10 percent of the number of childcare centres we need in the country, which is probably more than 60,000."

"Imagine, 90 percent of our childcare centres are unlicensed," he said.

In 2018, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry revealed that that there were only 4,302 registered childcare centres in Malaysia. It further said that calculations based on a census done by DOSM showed 38,333 more were needed. Dr Amar acknowledged that most parents feel stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"It’s very hard for parents to complain about the childcare centres. They need the childcare."

"If they’re unhappy with the childcare centres and report them, they lose the service. So they’re unlikely to report unlicensed childcare centres because they need them,” he said.