Extension of Village Care Facility Operations Until 8 PM... Improvement of Worker Treatment Also Planned

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] From this year, the care hours at Mind Care Facilities will be extended, and multi-child families will be included in the priority care children category. There will also be an increase in labor costs to improve the treatment of workers.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 9th that it will improve after-school child care services to make them easier to use.

First, the operating hours of Community Child Centers and Together Care Centers during the semester will be extended by one hour, from 7 PM to 8 PM. This decision was made considering the working hours of parents such as dual-income couples. Children who need care after 7 PM can receive care services until 8 PM through semester surveys or temporary care applications.

This year, about 200 new Together Care Centers will be established nationwide, and it is expected that an additional 5,000 to 6,000 children will be able to use care services. Considering the low birthrate situation, the scope of priority care children at Community Child Centers will include families with three or more children, increasing accessibility so that families with higher care needs can use the services first.

Along with this, the labor costs for workers at Community Child Centers and Together Care Centers will be increased by about 20% to improve the treatment of care workers. Additional labor costs will be provided for staffing according to the capacity to ensure appropriate scale installation and operation according to demand, and installation costs will be supported differently based on area.

The operating expenses for Together Care Centers have been adjusted from 300,000 KRW to 1,000,000 KRW per month, and the basic operating expenses for Community Child Centers have also been increased from 1,280,000 KRW to 1,390,000 KRW per month. Shin Kkot-si-gye, Director of Population and Child Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "We hope that these measures will allow children who need after-school care to receive care in a more stable environment, and we plan to continue efforts to improve care services."

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