Seoul City to Operate 'Seoul-style Shared Childcare Centers' in 8 Districts Starting from the 23rd

Selected Twice as Many Districts and Daycare Centers as Initially Planned
Providing High-Quality Education While Resolving Childcare Field Issues Like Waiting Lists, Reducing Costs, and Increasing Parent Convenience

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The 'Seoul-type Shared Daycare Center,' a community childcare model that groups 3 to 5 public, private, and home daycare centers within walking distance into one community to raise children together, will begin operation in 8 autonomous districts starting from the 23rd.

According to Seoul City, as a result of the open recruitment earlier this month, 8 autonomous districts and 24 communities (97 daycare centers) applied, which is twice the originally planned number. The city finally selected 8 autonomous districts and 14 communities (58 daycare centers), more than initially planned.

The Seoul-type Shared Daycare Center jointly recruits children and shares teaching materials and educational tools owned by each daycare center. Childcare programs and field trips are also planned and operated together. Children attending the Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers are cared for together even in daycare centers that operate during nights or holidays.

This model improves the quality of childcare services at private and home daycare centers struggling with a decrease in children, allowing families to receive the same level of childcare services at nearby Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers without having to go to distant public daycare centers. It is also expected to resolve the waiting list issue that is heavily skewed toward public daycare centers.

Additionally, nearby daycare centers share each other's excellent programs, spaces, and jointly purchase educational tools to reduce costs while providing diverse programs and quality educational experiences for infants and toddlers. Night and holiday joint childcare increases operational efficiency of daycare centers and convenience for parents simultaneously.

The selected daycare centers have completed forming director councils and teacher groups and are planning substantial shared programs tailored to regional characteristics. These programs will be jointly operated in the future. Some communities plan to introduce the 'Together Daycare Center' and 'Eco-friendly Daycare Center' programs, which Seoul City introduced to improve childcare service quality, into the shared daycare centers to rapidly spread them within the shared communities. The aim is to realize cooperative childcare through parent participation programs. Furthermore, the scholarship programs conducted in schools will be introduced into childcare settings, providing opportunities for childcare teachers to enhance their capabilities through mutual learning.

Seoul City supports the budget to ensure that programs proposed by shared daycare centers can be realized. To improve the quality of childcare processes, the city also connects each community's teacher groups with the 'Seoul Childcare Comprehensive Support Center,' a dedicated institution for home childcare and parenting programs, providing consulting services for childcare processes.

Meanwhile, based on the achievements from the 8 autonomous districts this year, Seoul City plans to expand the program to all 25 autonomous districts next year. Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul City Women and Family Policy Office, said, "'Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers' are a new strategy to overcome the issue of declining children due to low birth rates and COVID-19 by fostering mutual cooperation among nearby daycare centers rather than responding individually by each daycare center. We will do our best to support the operation of this policy in the field to solve difficulties in childcare and improve the quality of childcare services."

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