Seoul City Provides Targeted Support of 1.5 Billion Won to Daycare Centers for Foreign Infants Affected by COVID-19

Operating Expenses and Personnel Costs Supported for 551 Foreign Infant Care Centers
Concerns Over Increased Operational Difficulties Due to Lack of Government Childcare Fee Support

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 15th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will provide emergency support of 1.58 billion KRW over five months from June to October to 551 daycare centers in Seoul that care for foreign children and are struggling with normal operations due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Since Korean children receive government childcare fee support, childcare fees are provided to daycare centers per child even if the child does not attend due to COVID-19 reasons. However, foreign children are excluded from government support and must bear the full cost of childcare fees themselves.

According to Seoul City, daycare centers with a high enrollment rate of foreign children, such as those in Yeongdeungpo and Guro, face significant operational difficulties due to disruptions in childcare fee income when children do not attend because of COVID-19. While foreign infants (ages 0-2) are eligible for government institutional childcare fee support and receive operational subsidies, foreign young children (ages 3-5) are not eligible for government subsidies and thus fall into a support blind spot.

To prevent such support blind spots, the city plans to provide targeted support to daycare centers caring for foreign young children. For 551 daycare centers with 1,556 enrolled foreign young children, 50% of the childcare fee per child will be supported for five months from June to October. Public daycare centers will receive 50% of the childcare fee for ages 3-5, which is 140,000 KRW out of 280,000 KRW per child. Private daycare centers will receive 50% of the childcare fee: 235,800 KRW out of 471,600 KRW for 3-year-olds, and 225,650 KRW out of 451,300 KRW for 4- to 5-year-olds.

Daycare centers eligible for this support will be able to stably receive 50% of childcare fees for five months. During the support period, they are obligated to maintain childcare teacher employment and prevent the closure of the relevant classes, and must collect only 50% of the childcare fees from the families of enrolled foreign young children. Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Women and Family Policy Office, said, “This measure aims to allow teachers to focus on childcare and enable daycare centers to provide normal childcare services.” She added, “In a situation where parents, children, and daycare center staff are all experiencing high fatigue due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, we hope this support will help alleviate operational difficulties at daycare centers, even if only slightly.”

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