Guro-gu Wins Minister of Health and Welfare Award at Local Autonomy Management Competition

Positive Feedback for 'Guro-style Childcare System Establishment' to Eliminate Blind Spots in Elementary Care... 27 All-day Care Centers Created Utilizing Existing Community Resources Like Small Libraries

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Guro-gu (Mayor Lee Seong) has won the 'Minister of Health and Welfare Award' at the 16th Korea Local Autonomy Management Competition.

The 'Korea Local Autonomy Management Competition' is hosted annually by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The event aims to share creative and distinctive excellent policies and to discover projects that local governments can adopt.

This year, 235 cases from 93 local governments competed in 10 categories including regional economy, safety, job creation, culture and tourism, agriculture/livestock/specialty products, business environment, social welfare services, environmental management, regional development, and public design, resulting in the final selection of 34 excellent policies.

Guro-gu received high marks and the award in the social welfare services category for its 'Guro-type Childcare System Establishment,' which addresses the blind spots in elementary school childcare.

Guro-gu has been steadily working to establish the 'Guro-type Childcare System' to resolve care gaps caused by the intensification of nuclear families and the increase in economically active women.

In 2018, it was selected for the Ministry of Education's All-day Care Pilot Project, securing a total budget of 860 million KRW over two years. It also signed an agreement with the Seoul Southern Office of Education for the Guro-type Childcare System.

In 2019, a dedicated organization was formed and an ordinance on all-day care support was enacted. Based on this, an all-day care council was established with the education office, experts, and care institutions to build a seamless public-private-academic cooperative system.

In particular, by utilizing existing community resources such as small libraries and village vitality centers, 27 all-day care centers accessible on foot for elementary students were created, and professional institutions were selected to operate various programs.

Through this, various achievements were made including resolving childcare blind spots, increasing parental satisfaction, preventing career breaks for dual-income parents, and creating new jobs through direct employment of care teachers.

Mayor Lee Seong stated, “This award is the result of the combined efforts of local residents, the district office, and schools. We will continue to strive to make Guro a great place to raise children where both kids and parents are happy by discovering diverse policies.”

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