KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry has said that it wants to be able to directly use the police registry of criminals to speed up the screening of child-care workers.

Deputy minister Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun said the ministry currently receives submissions from individuals who want to start up a registered child-care centre or kindergarten, with such applications containing their personal information and their list of potential staff.

The ministry then passes on the list of individuals to the police under the current system, she said.

"We then submit the list to the police so they can do the background check for us.

"What we are hoping to do in the near future is to conduct the checks ourselves to expedite the process,” she was quoted saying by local daily The Star, adding that it would help prevent convicts of child-related crimes from being near to children.

Chew said the ministry will revoke the licence of child-care operators that have committed crimes against children, adding that it will also notify operators who may be unaware of their employees having such criminal records.

The Star reported that 4,240 child-care centres have been registered with the ministry as of July 2016, while 938 have not been registered.