Gwanak-gu 'A City Where Children Are Happy'... Creating a Strong Childcare Environment

Achieving Over 50% Utilization Rate of National and Public Daycare Centers, Securing Over 1 Billion KRW for Infant and Toddler Snack Expenses... Expansion of Care Infrastructure Including Family Happiness Center & Gwanak-type Mother Center I-rang

A family playing at Gwanak-type Mother Center with children at Nakseongdae branch

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) is building a reliable childcare infrastructure that parents can trust to leave their children with, creating a "Happy City Gwanak for Children and Parents."

The district achieved an early attainment of over 50% utilization rate of national and public daycare centers, a pledge made during the 7th local government term to realize "Inclusive and Together Welfare Gwanak," thereby securing publicness and improving the quality of childcare services.

To strengthen public childcare and improve the quality of childcare services, national and public daycare centers were evenly distributed by neighborhood to secure the public nature of childcare. Through continuous efforts such as encouraging the conversion of private and home daycare centers into national and public ones, the number of national and public daycare centers was significantly expanded.

Currently, the number of national and public daycare centers in Gwanak-gu has increased from 71 in 2018 to 84, an increase of 13 centers. In particular, the utilization rate of national and public daycare centers, which was only 38.9% in 2018, expanded to 55.9% as of June 2021.

Additionally, a budget of about 1 billion KRW was secured to provide high-quality and balanced meals and snacks to infants and toddlers being cared for at 204 daycare centers in the region.

Since 2020, the district raised the standard amount for meal and snack expenses to 2,400 KRW, 500 KRW higher than the government proposal, and this year, it is supporting about 7,000 infants and toddlers in national, private, and home daycare centers with 10,000 KRW monthly for meal and snack expenses.

This decision was based on the fact that the meal and snack expense standard, which had been included in childcare fees, was frozen at 1,745 KRW per day for infants (aged 0 to 2) for 22 years. Although it increased by 155 KRW to 1,900 KRW in 2020, it was considered insufficient to provide one meal and two snacks per day for growing infants and toddlers.

The district is also accelerating efforts to create a childcare environment favorable for raising children and to expand care infrastructure.

On June 23, Gwanak-gu's first family cultural complex facility, the "Gwanak Family Happiness Center," successfully opened at 1491 Nambusunhwan-ro (Sinsa-dong), with a total floor area of 3,999.8㎡ and a scale of two basement floors to six above-ground floors.

The 1st to 4th floors of the center house childcare facilities for infants and toddlers, such as a play experience center and a toy and infant library. The 5th floor features various employment and start-up program rooms, including cooking and baking classes for women who have experienced career interruptions. The 6th floor is planned as a village media center with a one-person media room and studio to stimulate everyone's curiosity and operate various programs.

Furthermore, four Gwanak-type Mother Centers called "I-rang," which link communal childcare sharing spaces and open childcare rooms, are currently in operation. "I-rang" serves as a public playroom for infants and toddlers and a space for mutual aid and self-help groups for parenting parents. One additional "I-rang" center will be added within the Gwanak Family Happiness Center in September, expanding to a total of six Gwanak-type Mother Centers by 2022.

Mayor Park Jun-hee stated, "Since many dual-income couples live in Gwanak-gu, residents have a high interest in children's childcare environments," adding, "We will continue to create an environment where all children living in Gwanak-gu can grow up healthy and happy, and parents can leave their children with peace of mind."

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