FOLLOWING closely after the recent Guyana Chronicle article about two children whose hair had been cut off at a city day-care, the facility has now been shut down, but not before three more toddlers had suffered the same fate.This newspaper was urged to hurry down to the day care centre and the publication arrived there around 14:45hrs on Tuesday. It was found that the building was tightly shut, and the gate was padlocked with a sign posted saying that the day-care facility was “closed until further notice.”

Initially, the supervisor did not respond to this newspaper’s calls, but after a while, she peeped out of a window. The Guyana Chronicle made its concerns known, and she replied that her lawyer had told her not to speak with anyone. She asked for our phone number, but we told her that we were already there, and would prefer face-to-face communication.
We asked if she was the supervisor, and what was her name. She replied in the affirmative, and gave her name as ‘Miss Denise’. She went on to volunteer: “I personally closed it myself.” Asked where were the infants that were placed in her care, she replied that they had all gone home. We asked her when, and she replied: “This morning.”
Asked from through the grilled window what would become of those children, and whether she had considered the parents’ predicament when she arbitrarily closed the facility, especially since fees are payable in advance, she merely replied that some of them don’t pay in advance.
It was then that an infant was heard crying inside of the house from behind heavily-grilled windows. This prompted us to ask who was the child crying, if, as she had already claimed, they had all gone home, but she did not reply, and hurried deeper into the house.
Based on information received by this newspaper, the first infant’s hair was cut off her head on Thursday, January 14. The second one was cut off on the 20th , and at a similar spot on her head as the first. There were also two other incidents. Unconfirmed reports Tuesday stated that three more toddlers had their hair shorn, which would bring to seven the total number of infants suffering the same fate.
Parents were indignant, and the matter was reported to the police and the Childcare and Protection Agency of the Ministry of Social Protection. Investigations are continuing. (Shirley Thomas)