The ‘Little Roots’ Child Day Care Center and Pre-School established at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation was officially opened.
As a donation made by the All-China Women’s Federation to the Forum of Women Members of Parliament of Sri Lanka, the Child Day Care Center and Pre-School established as a joint project of the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation was officially opened today (06th) under the patronage of Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation K.D. Lalkantha and Minister of Women and Child Affairs Mrs. Saroja Paul Raj.
Participating in this event, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation K.D. Lalkantha expressed his views.
“About a hundred years ago, the politician V.I. Lenin, as mentioned in the book ‘The Emancipation of Women’, stated that inside a home there are three factories. As long as those three factories are not taken out of the home, talking about women’s liberation is completely meaningless. In order to achieve women’s liberation, this factory of cooking and food preparation must be brought out of the home. In more developed societies, to a greater or lesser degree, the food preparation industry has already come out of the home. In the past, when a girl was given in marriage, a sewing machine was an essential gift. That means the industry of making and preparing clothing also used to exist inside the home. Today that has come outside. Now we can buy whatever clothing we like. That is one factory that has now come outside. Now we can make a phone call and obtain food at any time. But for that, a good economy is necessary. Otherwise we have the option of not cooking at home, going outside and fulfilling that need. However, not everyone is able to come out of that factory, due to the problem of poverty.
It is precisely the factory of childcare that remains inside the home, as Comrade Lenin points out. That function must be taken out of the home and carried out as a social responsibility of this kind.
Raising and maintaining children individually within separate homes is extremely exhausting. It does not do justice to the children, nor does it do justice to the parents. It also does not provide the best environment needed to nurture a child for the future. Although grandparents provide love and care, they cannot provide the child with what the future world demands. But here, those who look after the children are people with experience, people with good education in that field, and people who are dedicated to it and trained professionally in that capacity.
This is more than a day care center and it is a child care center. I suggest the Minister of Women and Child Affairs to remove the word ‘day’ from the name.
According to Lenin, bringing a washing machine into the home means bringing the factory inside the home. We should be able to build a home without a washing machine. The relevant tasks should be able to be done outside. If those three factories are taken out of the home, see what would be left inside. Would it be possible to find such a home? That is why we are still thinking that what we seek inside our homes is the best.
I am involved in this work with theoretical knowledge as well. What is inside a home has now become social functions. We must take these three factories out of the home and transform the house into a true home. Then what remains inside the home will be love, affection, compassion, and kindness.
This is an extremely important undertaking. It is not only our working women who need this. Children must be developed not individually, but socially.”
The following dignitaries participated in this occasion: Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Namal Karunaratne, Deputy Minister of Land and Irrigation Aravinda Senarath Witharana, Deputy Minister of Women and Child Affairs Namal Sudarshana, and Member of Parliament Mrs. Samanmali Gunasinghe.
