Daycare centre

What the business is

A centre that looks after the small children of working parents through the day. The mother drops the child on her way to work and collects on her way back, and in between the centre is responsible for feeding, sleep, play and early learning. The urban need is real and badly unmet: the Department of Women Affairs runs only 43 child day care centres nationally on its revenue budget, plus 20 more under a project covering 1,170 children in total. Many people do not know this work is now governed by law. Under the Child Day Care Centre Act, 2021 (Act No. 10 of 2021, dated 24 June 2021) no person may establish or run a centre without a registration certificate. The certificate is valid three years, and if the centre does not start operating within six months of issue the certificate lapses automatically. Running one without registration carries up to two years' imprisonment or a fine of not less than Tk 5 lakh and up to Tk 10 lakh, or both, doubled on a repeat offence. The Act also requires the service charge to be displayed in a visible place, and high-quality night-vision CCTV with long recording capacity at the entrance and other key points, with a metal detector or archway where needed. But how many staff per child, what the registration fee is and who the registering authority actually is were all left to rules to prescribe, and those rules could not be found in public.

Unit economics

What you need to start

• CCTV: section 12(6) requires high-quality night-vision closed circuit cameras with long recording capacity at the entrance, key points, around the centre and wherever needed, plus a metal detector or archway at the entrance where necessary. Section 27 separately recognises the evidentiary value of the images and recordings from those cameras.Equipment
• Children's food, sleeping mats, toys, first aid supplies and cleaning materials. The government centres' food routine can be followed: 10:00-10:30 milk, bread and boiled egg or noodles or semolina; 13:00-13:30 rice, dal, vegetables and chicken or rui fish; 15:30-16:00 fruit, yoghurt or pudding. Fruit with seeds is not allowed and one better meal - pulao and meat - must be served once a month.Starting stock
• Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, non-judicial stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type, plus VAT and signboard fee. Issued in 3-5 working days, renewed yearly.Licence
• Registration certificate under the Child Day Care Centre Act, 2021 (Act No. 10 of 2021, 24 June 2021). The registering authority is appointed by the government by gazette notification (s.5). The certificate is valid 3 years and renewable before expiry (s.6(2)); a late renewal may be applied for within 30 days with a late fee (s.8(3)). If the centre does not start within 6 months of issue the certificate lapses automatically (s.7(3)). The certificate cannot be transferred and the address cannot be changed without prior approval (s.7(4),(5)). The registration and renewal fees are left to rules to prescribe and those rules could not be found in public.Licence
• The prescribed educational qualification and training (s.7(1)(e)) and staff with the prescribed qualifications (s.7(1)(f)). Section 94(2) of the Labour Act requires the child room to be supervised by a woman experienced or trained in child care. The Act gives no number for staff per child - that is left to rules, and those rules could not be found.Skill
• The centre's physical infrastructure must meet the conditions on the certificate (s.12(4)). For comparison, section 94(5) of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 requires a factory child room to be at least 360 cm from floor to the lowest part of the roof with at least 600 square centimetres of floor per child, with adequate light and air, away from smoke, dust, smell or noisy work, with heat-resistant and waterproof walls and roof.Workspace
• Set the hours and age range. Government centres take children from 6 months to 6 years and open 8:30 am to 5:30 pm except on public holidays; the National Mahila Sangstha centre in Dhaka is for children aged 1 to 6 and runs 8:30 am to 6:00 pm.Workspace

How the work runs

1. 1Start by reading the Child Day Care Centre Act, 2021. Section 4(2) prohibits establishing or running a centre without a registration certificate. Only centres run by the government, a statutory body or an autonomous institution are exempt.
2. 2Find out who the registering authority is. Section 5 says the government appoints it by gazette notification. Go to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs or the district Women Affairs Officer and ask for the current authority's name and the application form.
3. 3Check the conditions in section 7(1): Bangladeshi citizenship, the prescribed financial solvency, two years elapsed since any sentence for moral turpitude, the prescribed educational qualification and training, staff with the prescribed qualifications, and the infrastructure the authority prescribes.
4. 4Choose the flat or floor and settle the address before applying: under section 7(5) the address cannot be changed without the registering authority's prior approval.
5. 5Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality and a TIN from NBR.
6. 6Put the security in place: section 12(6) requires high-quality night-vision CCTV with long recording capacity at the entrance, key points and around the centre, plus a metal detector or archway at the entrance where needed.
7. 7Hire trained women staff. Section 94(2) of the Labour Act requires the child room to be under the supervision of a woman experienced or trained in child care, and the day care Act likewise leaves staff qualifications to be prescribed.
8. 8Write down the handover rules: section 12(2) requires the child to be taken from and returned to the parent or the parent's nominated representative at the fixed time, and section 12(3) requires every child's information to be kept on record.
9. 9Fix the service charge and display it in a visible place: section 10(2) makes this compulsory. Reading the boards at nearby centres is the most practical way to set your own rate.
10. 10Set the food routine. The government centres' routine gives three meals a day, forbids fruit with seeds, and requires one better meal a month.
11. 11Talk to nearby offices, hospitals and factories. Any establishment normally employing 40 or more women workers must maintain a child room for their under-six children under section 94(1) of the Labour Act, and that is where your regular customers are.
12. 12Open within six months of the certificate being issued: under section 7(3) it lapses automatically otherwise. Apply for renewal before expiry; if you miss it, you have 30 days to apply with a late fee.

Sources

• ২০টি শিশু দিবাযত্ন কেন্দ্র স্থাপন প্রকল্প — কেন্দ্রের অবস্থান, সেবাগ্রহীতা ১,১৭০ জন শিশু, বয়সসীমা ৬ মাস–৬ বছর

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Daily capacity · বাংলাদেশ

• সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ

• দিবাযত্ন শাখা — মহিলা বিষয়ক অধিদপ্তরের ৪৩টি শিশু দিবাযত্ন কেন্দ্র, বয়সসীমা, সময়সূচি ও সাপ্তাহিক খাদ্য রুটিন

  Collected: 30 Jul 2026

  Supports: Daily capacity, Monthly working capital · বাংলাদেশ

• শিশু দিবাযত্ন কেন্দ্র আইন, ২০২১ (২০২১ সনের ১০ নং আইন), ২৪ জুন ২০২১ — ধারা ৪, ৫, ৬, ৭, ৮, ১০, ১২, ১৭, ২০ থেকে ২৭ ও ৩০

  Collected: 24 Jun 2021

  Supports: Starting capital, Time to first revenue · বাংলাদেশ

• বাংলাদেশ শ্রম আইন, ২০০৬ (২০০৬ সনের ৪২ নং আইন), ধারা ৯৪ — শিশু কক্ষ

  Collected: 11 Oct 2006

  Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ

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