Lee Jae-myung "Reduce Childcare Teacher-to-Child Ratio to Improve Quality of Care"

78th Small but Certain Happiness on the 24th
'Reducing Teacher-to-Child Ratio' Pledge
15-20 Children per Teacher... Teacher Workload Also Overburdened

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 24th that "'Reducing the teacher-to-child ratio in daycare centers' is the top priority task in childcare that can no longer be delayed in the era of low birth rates," and added, "We will improve the quality of childcare by reducing the teacher-to-child ratio."

On this day, Candidate Lee explained this while announcing the 78th small but certain happiness pledge on Facebook, titled 'Improvement of the teacher-to-child ratio in daycare centers.'

The Democratic Party's election committee pointed out, "Currently, under the Infant Care Act, one teacher is responsible for 15 to 20 children in classes for children aged three and above," and added, "Compared to being responsible for 7 children in the two-year-old class, this means that with just a one-year age difference, a teacher is responsible for almost twice as many children." They further explained, "If one child gets hurt or the teacher in charge leaves their post for reasons such as going to the restroom, the remaining teachers end up caring for dozens of children, including those assigned to their colleagues." They said, "Due to the high teacher-to-child ratio, children who need care may not receive proper attention or may be exposed to safety risks."

Accordingly, Candidate Lee plans to gradually reduce the teacher-to-child ratio from the three-year-old class, where the number of children per teacher sharply increases, to the level of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Currently, the number of children per teacher in South Korea is about four more than the OECD member country average.

Candidate Lee emphasized, "By improving the teacher-to-child ratio in daycare centers, we will create daycare centers where teachers, children, and parents are all happy."

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