All Government Failures Since YS: Will 'Yubotonghap' Succeed This Time?

Repeated Failures of Retained Integration Since YS Government
Announcement of '3-Stage Transfer' Plan Starting This Year
On Site, "Support Integration, Detailed Plan Is the Challenge"

On the 28th, the Ministry of Education announced that it will actively promote the 'Yubotonghap' (integration of kindergarten and daycare center management systems). The plan is to transfer the infant and toddler care tasks currently managed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and local governments (city/province and district/county) to the Ministry of Education and metropolitan/provincial offices of education, and to carry out the administrative and financial transfer in three stages.

There has long been a social consensus on providing quality education from early childhood. However, the issue lies in 'how to implement it.' Kindergartens, daycare centers, and parents agree on integrating the responsible departments under the Ministry of Education, but they have concerns about how to resolve detailed integration issues such as budget, specific curricula, and treatment of teachers.

When Did Yubotonghap Begin?

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The necessity of Yubotonghap has been steadily raised until now. The first attempt was during the Kim Young-sam administration in 1995. The Kim Young-sam government promoted the unification of early childhood education under the public education system through the May 31 Education Reform Plan. The plan included integrating kindergartens and childcare facilities into early childhood schools and gradually implementing free education starting from 5-year-old children. However, the 'Early Childhood Education Act' containing these provisions failed to be submitted to the plenary session due to opposition from the childcare and private academy sectors.

In 1998, the Kim Dae-jung administration also attempted to integrate kindergartens and daycare centers into an early childhood school system. However, this attempt also failed to be submitted to the plenary session due to opposition from various sectors. Subsequently, in 2003, under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, the enactment of the 'Early Childhood Education Act' and the comprehensive revision of the 'Infant and Toddler Care Act' solidified the dual system.

In 2008, the Lee Myung-bak administration transferred childcare duties from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family back to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and partially integrated the curriculum through the 'Nuri Curriculum.' The Park Geun-hye administration announced a plan to complete Yubotonghap in three stages during its term but only implemented some tasks in stages 1 and 2. The failure was attributed to planning issues such as unifying management departments and integrating teacher qualifications and training systems late in the administration. During the Moon Jae-in administration, aside from holding a forum on Yubotonghap by the National Policy Advisory Committee, no significant progress was made.

Therefore, if the current government successfully promotes Yubotonghap, it will be achieved 28 years after it was first initiated during the Kim Young-sam administration. On the 15th of last month, President Yoon Suk-yeol instructed the Deputy Prime Minister to "unify the child care management system under the Ministry of Education and cooperate with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to complete a tangible Yubotonghap."

How Will the Department Transfer Be Carried Out?

The core of the 'Unified Yubo Management System Plan' announced by the Ministry of Education on the 28th is to transfer infant and toddler care tasks from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, metropolitan/provincial governments, and district/county offices to the Ministry of Education and metropolitan/provincial offices of education. The transfer targets tasks related to infant and toddler care under the 'Infant and Toddler Care Act.' The plan is to proceed in three stages: first transferring central government agencies (stage 1), then local government agencies (stage 2), and finally applying an integrated model (stage 3) from this year through 2024 and 2025.

Legal amendments will also be pursued to facilitate the transfer. The current 'Government Organization Act' will be amended to change 'infant and toddler care' from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Welfare to that of the Ministry of Education, and the 'Infant and Toddler Care Act' will change the responsible authority from the Minister of Health and Welfare to the Minister of Education. The jurisdiction over central support organizations such as the Korea Childcare Promotion Institute, the Central Childcare Support Center, and the Daycare Center Safety Mutual Aid Association will also be transferred to the Ministry of Education.

To promote the transfer, a 'Transfer Preparation Consultative Body' (task force) will be formed, with the Ministry of Education and metropolitan/provincial offices of education jointly responding. The Ministry of Education plans to begin legal amendments for central government task transfers starting this month and will review the task force composition status from the end of next month.

However, since transferring and integrating departments is a challenging task, there are criticisms that the plan lacks feasibility. After the press conference on the 28th, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho responded to reporters' questions about whether the national treasury transfer is possible immediately with the revision of the Government Organization Act, saying, "There was a consensus in today's government-party consultation and promotion committee meeting that the so-called 'two-track' approach is much more feasible," and explained, "The Government Organization Act aims to pass by the end of this year."

Consensus on Integration, but the Method Is Uncertain

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The reason Yubotonghap has not been realized so far lies in the differing positions of various parties such as kindergartens and daycare centers. While there is no disagreement on departmental integration from an educational perspective for infants and young children, unification is difficult because budgets, detailed curricula, and treatment of teachers currently differ. The plan announced by the Ministry of Education so far only includes the department transfer plan and does not include an integration model, leaving it as a future task. The Ministry of Education explained that it will announce a draft of the integration model by the end of this year.

Kim Cheol, Director of Policy and Public Relations at the Korea Kindergarten Association, said, "There is no major disagreement because it is unclear how detailed policies will change after the transfer to the Ministry of Education," and added, "The integration of all children aged 0 to 5 under the Ministry of Education as the education target is a plan that sufficiently reflects field opinions." He continued, "However, how the integration model will be developed and issues such as the distribution of teacher qualification standards remain the most important tasks."

Kim Kyung-sook, President of the Korea Daycare Center Association, said, "I agree with the direction of Yubotonghap." However, she saw the need for adjustments regarding teacher treatment. She said, "We need to find a way to integrate daycare teachers who do not hold kindergarten certificates or have not completed related majors without difficulty."

Parents also agree with the purpose of integration but believe that forming an integration model will not be easy. Kim (34), residing in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, said, "As a parent sending both children to daycare centers, it seems good that kindergartens and daycare centers have the same managing department," but added, "I am worried about whether the integration will be well implemented." Kim (39), residing in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, said, "I expect that the issue of stratification where those with money send children to kindergartens and those without send them to daycare centers can be resolved," but expressed doubts about whether subsidiary issues such as daycare operation budgets and teacher qualification integration can be solved.

Regarding these concerns, Lee Sang-jin, Head of the Infant and Toddler Education and Care Integration Promotion Team, said at a briefing, "The basic policy is to conduct discussions and research through broad discussions and public opinion collection procedures."

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