Oh Se-hoon's 'Seoul-style Shared Daycare Centers' Competition Rate 3.2 to 1... Operating in All Districts from March

Last Year: 14 Communities in 8 Districts → This Year: 40 Communities in All 25 Districts Expanded, Operating from March
Operating Costs Reduced by 32%, Response with Competition Rate from 1.7:1 to 3.2:1

One of the Seoul-type shared daycare centers, Neulhaerang Daycare Center in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government has completed the selection of 40 communities (160 daycare centers) to participate in this year's ‘Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers’ and will begin operations in all autonomous districts starting in March.

On the 23rd, Seoul announced that from January 24 to February 8, 79 communities with 316 daycare centers applied through an open recruitment process, showing a competition rate of 3.2 to 1. This is about twice the competition rate of 1.7 to 1 from last year. The city attributed this to the high satisfaction of parents and strong interest in the childcare field, due to last year's Seoul-type Shared Daycare Center operations which reduced operating costs by 32% through sharing vehicles, supplies, and teaching materials as well as joint purchasing, and supported the swift admission of children waiting for national and public daycare centers.

Seoul selected 26 new communities and 102 daycare centers through quantitative evaluations such as daycare center status, business plans, and autonomous district willingness, as well as qualitative assessments. Including last year's 14 communities and 58 daycare centers, a total of 40 communities and 160 daycare centers will operate. Notably, while last year’s communities were mainly centered around national and public daycare centers, this year the community composition criteria were broadened to include Seoul-type daycare centers and large-scale private daycare centers alongside national and public daycare centers.

The selected daycare centers have completed the formation of director councils and teacher groups and are planning substantial shared programs tailored to regional characteristics. These programs will be jointly operated going forward. Additionally, from this year, various childcare models and play programs will be applied to Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers to create synergy and improve childcare quality. The ‘Eco-friendly Program’ and ‘Together Program’ childcare models will be mandatorily applied, and communities will be supported to implement various play-centered programs as desired. Furthermore, Seoul will develop a BI (Brand Identity) for Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers and attach plaques to all 160 shared daycare centers to enhance recognition and promote the brand as Seoul’s representative childcare model.

Meanwhile, Seoul will also incubate facilities that were not selected for this shared daycare center program. Considering that the applying communities are groups that have agreed on efficiency and operational improvement of daycare centers through win-win cooperation with nearby daycare centers, active support such as providing shared daycare center operation manuals and mentor-mentee partnerships will be offered.

Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Women and Family Policy Office, said, “Seoul-type Shared Daycare Centers have shown visible results such as reducing operating costs, sharing admissions, and jointly implementing high-quality childcare programs, which has led to high interest and participation in the childcare field. Seoul plans to expand to 100 communities by 2025, expecting that a cooperative atmosphere among daycare centers will be fostered and that it will be established as Seoul’s representative childcare model.”

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