Seoul City Lifts 50% Limit on Elementary Care 'Uri Dongne Keum Center'... Normal Operation Resumes

Full Operation Without Limit on Number of Children Served
Expansion to 30 Centers Next Year and Qualitative Improvements Through Performance and Demand Analysis

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul’s ‘Uri Dongne Care Center,’ where any elementary school student can receive after-school and vacation care, announced on the 7th that it has started normal operations without the 50% usage restriction in line with the phased return to daily life.

The Uri Dongne Care Center operates 186 locations across all 25 autonomous districts and is continuously expanding considering the installation status and care demand by district. Even when normal in-person classes were not conducted due to COVID-19, it provided continuous care without closing, establishing itself as a community care institution where caregivers can entrust their children with peace of mind.

According to a usage survey of the Uri Dongne Care Center, 95.9% of caregivers expressed satisfaction, and 88.6% responded that it helped with economic activities such as continuing full-day work. After using the Care Center, 94% responded that they felt “a sense of security that their children are safely protected even after school,” and 93.6% said it “provided various experiences for their children,” showing its contribution to child care.

Seoul City plans to improve the quality of care services by activating various content centered on rest and play, as the entry of external instructors and volunteers who have completed vaccination is allowed following the transition to phased daily recovery.

To use the Uri Dongne Care Center, reservations can be made through the ‘Uri Dongne Care Portal.’ This year, 100% of admission documents are accepted online, and the online convenience has been enhanced through improvements such as an electronic attendance management system on the Uri Dongne Care Portal.

On the Uri Dongne Care Portal, in addition to applying for the use of the Uri Dongne Care Center, information on care such as local children’s centers, communal childcare rooms, and babysitter services, as well as a childcare map service that allows users to see the status of care facilities by region at a glance, are provided.

Seoul City plans to strengthen safe care through continuous expansion, including adding 30 more Uri Dongne Care Centers in 2022. Along with expanding centers, policy reviews such as performance analysis of the overall Seoul elementary care project and establishment of future policy measures will also be conducted.

Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul Women and Family Policy Office, said, “During the COVID-19 situation, the Uri Dongne Care Center played a major role in alleviating the elementary care burden of caregivers such as dual-income couples,” and added, “We will make every effort to ensure that no one has to give up their dreams and careers due to child care by promoting various safe care support projects such as expanding Uri Dongne Care Centers, strengthening the public nature of local children’s centers, improving the quality of babysitter services to reduce the burden of home care, and expanding communal childcare rooms.”

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