Gyeongnam Province to Invest 800 Billion Won in Childcare This Year... Five 24-Hour Childcare Centers Designated

Promotion of 12 Projects in 3 Fields

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Saeyan] Gyeongsangnam-do is investing a budget of over 800 billion KRW this year in 12 projects across 3 childcare-related sectors to create a safe childcare environment.

According to Gyeongnam Province on the 8th, the Childcare Policy Committee was held on the 3rd to finalize the 'Childcare Policy Implementation Plan' along with the childcare fees for daycare centers, the maximum amount for necessary expense collection, the director's pre-job training expenses, and training expenses for long-term non-practitioners.

The '2021 Childcare Policy Implementation Plan' includes support contents in three areas: ▲ customized childcare service support to reduce parents' childcare costs ▲ expansion of public childcare and improvement of childcare quality ▲ strengthening the professionalism of childcare staff and support for improving treatment.

In the field of 'customized childcare service support to reduce parents' childcare burden,' 557.4 billion KRW will be invested in five projects.

Gyeongnam Province supports childcare fees for children using daycare centers through the 'Childcare Fee Support for Infants and Toddlers Using Daycare Centers' project and provides home care allowances for children not using daycare centers.

Since last year, the 'Full Support for Parents' Childcare Fees' project has eliminated the economic burden of additional childcare costs when using daycare centers in the province. Starting this year, five institutions providing '24-hour time-based childcare services' that can be used regardless of time will be designated and operated on a pilot basis.

In the field of 'expanding public childcare and improving childcare quality,' 142.4 billion KRW will be invested in five projects.

The province completed the expansion of 140 public daycare centers as of the end of last year by promoting the 'Expansion of National and Public Daycare Centers' project to achieve a 40% public childcare utilization rate. The plan is to expand a total of 275 public daycare centers by next year.

In the field of 'strengthening the professionalism of childcare staff and supporting treatment improvement,' 106.2 billion KRW will be invested in three projects: ▲ treatment improvement and morale enhancement project ▲ support for training expenses ▲ morale enhancement workshops.

The decisions made on the 3rd will be applied from March this year. This year, the maximum amount for childcare fee collection at daycare centers in Gyeongsangnam-do increased by 6.3% compared to the previous year, and the maximum amount for necessary expense collection increased by 10.0% compared to the previous year.

Park Hyunsuk, head of the Family Support Division of Gyeongnam Province, said, "Childcare policy is a core policy that supports work-life balance and improves quality of life. Since a large budget is invested, we will do our best to create a childcare environment that is truly good for raising children."

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