Seoul City Unveils 'Seoul-style Shared Childcare Centers'... 40 Locations Operated in 4 Districts

Mayor Oh Se-hoon's Childcare Pledge Project Launches...Improving Childcare Service Quality and Simultaneously Resolving Daycare Operation Difficulties
Combining 3-5 Public, Private, and Home Daycares to Recruit Children and Share Teaching Materials and Tools

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's childcare pledge project, the ‘Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers,’ will make its debut in four autonomous districts. The ‘Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers’ is a new childcare model that combines 3 to 5 public daycare centers with private and home daycare centers to raise children together.

On the 14th, Seoul City announced that it will open a public recruitment for four autonomous districts to participate in this year’s ‘Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers’ project. Applications will be accepted for five days from July 2 to 6, and after a selection committee review, selections will be completed in August, and the project will commence.

Each autonomous district plans to operate 10 daycare centers, totaling 40 centers. Districts wishing to participate must pre-select 10 daycare centers to apply. Each district must form 2 to 3 zones, and the daycare centers within each zone must be within walking distance. Additionally, each zone must include at least one public and one private (or home) daycare center.

Seoul City plans to achieve two goals through the ‘Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers’: improving the quality of childcare services and resolving operational difficulties faced by daycare centers. By grouping 3 to 5 daycare centers within walking distance into one zone and sharing various programs within each zone, the overall level of care will be enhanced. At the same time, daycare centers within the zone will jointly recruit children, broadening parents’ voluntary choice of daycare centers.

The shared programs supported to improve the childcare service level of participating daycare centers will be planned and detailed by the childcare staff and parents of the respective centers. In this process, the Seoul Childcare Comprehensive Support Center, Seoul City’s dedicated institution for home childcare and parenting programs, will provide various consultation services including program development.

The shared programs to be promoted by zone include ▲play programs that were difficult to implement individually due to cost burdens ▲integrated weekend childcare and hub-type night childcare operations ▲joint substitute teachers or joint administrative staff to reduce staff workload ▲joint purchase and operation of teaching materials and tools ▲joint shuttle vehicle operation for convenience of children with disabilities ▲care programs linked with the local community. These programs will be autonomously selected by each zone considering local conditions and parents’ demands.

Seoul City plans to provide various supports to facilitate early establishment, participation activation, and childcare service improvement of shared daycare centers. These include ▲one assistant teacher for each participating daycare center ▲activity allowances for teachers and directors (50,000 to 100,000 KRW per month) ▲operation expenses for zone operation councils (100,000 KRW per month) ▲operation expenses for zone shared programs (5 million KRW) ▲one dedicated staff member per autonomous district to support sharing and collaboration.

Seoul City plans to analyze and supplement this year’s project outcomes and effects and expand it to all 25 autonomous districts next year. Seoul City Childcare Officer Kang Hee-eun said, “This Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers project will demonstrate that overall service improvement is possible simply by daycare centers sharing resources and cooperating with each other,” adding, “It is expected to greatly help resolve operational difficulties of daycare centers amid the current environmental changes of low birth rates and decreasing enrollment.”

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