j) A child hotline was launched to receive children's complaints as a free and accessible means for every child without discrimination to express their opinions on issues related to them. The helpline operates across all governorates on a 24-hour basis. This move has achieved a positive concrete outcome in providing a child protection umbrella, as guaranteed by law and international conventions, in addition to providing free legal assistance to children and helping them to return to education after a break. k)A number of ‘Child Protection Committees’ were launched as a national child protection mechanism with support from legal authorities, based on a number of measures, including coordination of contacts with the relevant government bodies, documenting the referral mechanisms between the child rescue line and the local coordinator in the governorate with protection committees; formation of committees and technical support from the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood to monitor the operations of protection committees, as well as promotion of these committees in media and at the local community level. 5. Further demonstrating the government's keenness on the protection of children's rights, it has implemented a number of programs and initiatives to ensure children’s best interests. These include: a. A program to enable children to obtain adequate education for the first five years at kindergartens, in cooperation with UNICEF and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), as well as providing a unified curriculum for children in kindergartens, of a scientific and educational quality commensurate with the needs of children at that stage. b. Developing a system of foster families for children deprived of family care, and removing all obstacles and impediments to the increase in the number of foster families wishing to sponsor children; The number of foster families was estimated at 9,974 families, which cared for 9,910 children. 69