Extension of Closure for Gwangju Area Daycare Centers Until the 22nd

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 5th that it has decided to extend the closure of daycare centers, originally scheduled until the 8th, for two more weeks until the 22nd in accordance with the Ministry of Health and Welfare's policy.

The city plans to minimize attendance as much as possible if home care is available during the closure period, but will implement a duty system for childcare teachers to ensure no disruption in child care for families where both parents work or home care is difficult.

Additionally, daycare centers will be subject to frequent inspections, and if they refuse or fail to provide emergency childcare, correction orders will be issued. Joint inspections will also be conducted with autonomous districts.

If any inconveniences such as failure to provide emergency childcare occur, reports can be made to the city and each autonomous district's childcare-related departments or the daycare center inconvenience reporting center.

Meanwhile, the 1,126 daycare centers in the jurisdiction plan to continue their own disinfection efforts during the closure period. The city invested 200 million KRW in February to supply masks and hand sanitizers to daycare centers and plans to provide an additional 100 million KRW from the disaster safety fund within this month.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare recognizes special cases by fully supporting childcare fees even if children are absent due to parental infection concerns regardless of daycare center closure, and supports labor costs based on the original number of enrolled children even if the number temporarily decreases.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Employment and Labor will provide up to 50,000 KRW per day per person (up to 500,000 KRW combined for couples) for up to five days to workers who used family care leave due to daycare center closures.

Along with daycare center closures, 310 local children's centers will also be closed until the 22nd. Earlier, on the 2nd, following the Ministry of Education's policy, the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education postponed the start of the school year to the 23rd for 290 kindergartens and all elementary, middle, and high schools.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.