Daegu City Council Member Baejisuk, "We Must Break Prejudices Against After-School Care Services"

Additional 16,943 People Receive Care Services

Greatest Care Burden from 4 to 6 PM

Daegu City Council member Bae Ji-sook.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] Daegu City Council member Bae Jisuk announced the research results of the "Study on After-School Care Services," a policy research project promoted last year.

This research project was conducted based on the data from the "Survey on the Current Status and Improvement Measures of After-School Care Services" targeting 1,055 Daegu citizens in 2020, through secondary data analysis and in-depth interviews with caregivers.

Council member Bae Jisuk, together with Council member Hwang Sunja, jointly promoted the "Study on After-School Care Services" from October to December last year to accurately grasp the demand for care services among Daegu citizens and find future policy directions.

A table showing the periods and times when respondents reported the most severe gaps in childcare.

According to the results, care gaps occur most significantly between 4 and 6 p.m., before parents return from work, and although there is a high new demand for after-school care services, there is also a great distrust of care services.

Local parents felt a greater burden of child care during the early elementary school years than during infancy and toddlerhood, with the heaviest care burden occurring between 4 and 6 p.m., after after-school care or academy classes and before parents return from work.

New demand from respondents who are not currently using care services but wish to use them if circumstances allow reached 27.5%, which, when converted to focus on children in early elementary school, was estimated to be as many as 16,943 children.

In in-depth interviews with parents, many pointed out difficulties in using after-school care services due to fierce selection competition and mismatched time slots, even though they wanted to use the services.

The majority of parents responded that safety is the top priority in care services, and there was also a high demand for qualitative improvements such as organically connecting school care and community care.

Council member Bae Jisuk is preparing follow-up measures reflecting the research results, including revising ordinances to improve public care services, expanding public care services, increasing the supply and improving the treatment of care personnel, and establishing a portal site to provide information on after-school care services.

Council member Bae stated, "Although this is the most basic support for work-family balance, it has prioritized low-income and vulnerable groups, thereby solidifying biased views and class consciousness toward public care services," and added, "To break these prejudices, care services must be expanded quantitatively and improved qualitatively."

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