Incheon City Expands Public Childcare Centers by 300 Over 5 Years... Usage Rate from 36.3% to 50%

Incheon City has decided to expand public childcare centers by 300 locations by 2026, aiming to increase the public childcare utilization rate to 50%.

The city plans to achieve this goal through the designation of new Incheon-type childcare centers and the conversion of private childcare centers to national and public institutions. By type, the city intends to increase annually by ▲40 national and public centers ▲10 public-type centers ▲10 Incheon-type centers.

If the project proceeds as planned, Incheon’s public childcare utilization rate, which was 36.3% last year, will rise to 50% by 2026.

This year, the city plans to expand national and public childcare centers by 53 locations, exceeding the original plan. In the first half of the year, 40 national and public childcare centers were added, bringing the total currently operated to 316.

In the second half, to minimize childcare gaps caused by the closure of private childcare centers due to low birth rates, the city will focus on converting private childcare centers to national and public institutions. Currently, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is reviewing the conversion of 7 private childcare centers to national and public centers, and 6 more conversions are planned for the second half of the year.

Incheon-type childcare centers, which reduce the number of infants per teacher from 3 to 2 for 0-year-old classes and from 5 to 4 for 1-year-old classes, have been newly designated 20 this year, increasing the total to 194. The original expansion target for this year was 10 centers, but after the announcement in April, considering the number of centers that might be canceled due to closures, the new allocation was increased to 20.

Children in the toddler class at Incheon public daycare centers are participating in a nature experience learning program.
[Photo by Incheon City]

Incheon City also completed the re-designation of 21 public-type childcare centers last month, whose 3-year validity period was expiring, and plans to newly designate more than 10 centers in September. Public-type childcare centers are designated among excellent private and home childcare centers, applying strengthened operational standards while providing operational support funds.

The city will newly introduce a quality improvement fund support project to enable public-type childcare centers to provide childcare services comparable to national and public centers, supporting 40,000 KRW per child per month (age 3) to 43,000 KRW (ages 4?5). Currently, there are 124 public-type childcare centers in Incheon.

An official from Incheon City stated, "Expanding the public childcare infrastructure is a key pledge of the 8th local government administration. We will increase childcare centers by more than 60 each year and devote efforts to improving childcare quality to provide high-quality childcare services."

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