Serious Childcare Gap in Gangwon-do... Elementary Students Left 'Home Alone' Without Adults

12.1% Stay Home Alone During Semester, 16.4% During Vacation

Stock photo (unrelated to the article content) [Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Reporter La Youngcheol] About 10% of elementary school students in Gangwon-do were found to stay home alone without adults during both the school term and vacation periods.

According to the results of the '2021 Gangwon-do Elementary Care Status and Development of Regional Cooperation Model' recently announced by the Gangwon-do Women and Family Research Institute, the current elementary care services showed low policy awareness and perception from the users' perspective.

The number of children using elementary care services in the province was 17,003, accounting for 23.1%, and 12.1% of children were left alone without adults during weekdays in the school term, while 16.4% experienced care gaps during vacation periods.

In particular, care gaps were found to be more severe among children from dual-income households.

Policy support needs varied according to household characteristics, and it was analyzed that services tailored to individual households, considering regional economic activity types, work patterns, single-parent household status, and economic levels, are necessary.

The care gap rate for non-single-parent households was 3.3 percentage points higher than that of single-parent households, indicating that children from general households outside the institutional framework were more easily exposed to care gaps.

When parents worked full-time, demand for morning and all-day care services was higher. In county-level areas, the perception of low accessibility, such as 'no institutions nearby to use,' was 4.3 percentage points higher.

The lower the economic level, the significantly lower the awareness of elementary care service information and policies.

In the case of dual-income households, the current elementary care service was perceived as having low awareness, low accessibility, and bias in selective beneficiary selection.

Previously, the province conducted a survey on elementary child care status and policy demand targeting 1,789 elementary school parents in Gangwon-do.

Through this, a plan to reorganize the care service delivery system considering regional characteristics and a regional cooperation-type elementary care project model were developed.

Senior Researcher Jeon Hyunsoo emphasized, "In an era of low birth rates and declining school-age population, it is important to shift the paradigm of the elementary care system from the existing supply expansion strategy to a high-quality universal service," adding, "It is necessary to reorganize the existing service delivery system and link and utilize community resources for child care."

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