In first, Saudi Arabia provides nursery service for Hajj pilgrims with children

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Hajj and Umrah launched a nursery service on Tuesday for children during the holy season for the first time, to ensure their safety amid the large crowds of pilgrims and provide them with a safe environment.

The service will operate in coordination with the Ministry of Education, and aims to provide a safe, educational environment for children while their parents perform their Hajj rituals.

Under the supervision of a qualified team, the children will be cared for by professionals in education, entertainment, and security.

The goal is to minimize accidents of lost children amid packed Holy areas, and avoid the spread of diseases.

Pilgrims with children are able to ask for the service while completing their registration processes for Hajj permits online for this season.

In addition to the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and the Ministry of Education, several other parties are contributing to this service such as the Ministry of Health,  Ministry of Labor and Social Development, as well as “Tatweer”, a Saudi educational services company.

Children will be grouped according to their age. There will be a group for children from the age of two months to 1.5 years, and another for children starting two-years-old to three-years-old, and a group for children aged between six and ten.

Five languages will be spoken at the nurseries, which are Arabic, English, French, Malay, and Turkish.

A record of each child's entrance and exit into the nursery will be recorded through fingerprints, in addition to confirming the identity of the child and their parents. The security process also includes deploying cameras and preventing anyone from entering the nursery except for authorized personnel.