Busan City to Fully Implement 'Cherished Like You' Zero Parental Burden Policy... Childcare Center Expenses Supported from July

Up to 100,000 won per month in essential expenses (field trip fees, special activity fees) supported for children attending daycare centers

Busan's integrated care policy 'All of Busan cherishes you all day long' promotes Busan-style free childcare

The city of Busan will provide support for the portion of daycare center necessary expenses borne by parents for all children (ages 3 to 5) attending daycare centers located in Busan, starting from July.

Busan City Hall.

Daycare center necessary expenses refer to the costs of purchasing goods not included in the childcare fees supported by the government and the city, as well as actual expenses for special activities and field trips that are not part of the regular childcare program.

To alleviate the financial burden on parents raising children, the city will provide up to 100,000 KRW per month starting in July for "field trip fees" and "special activity fees," which parents have previously had to pay as part of daycare center necessary expenses.

For this support, the city has allocated a supplementary budget of 9.3 billion KRW (up to 100,000 KRW per child per month) for the daycare center necessary expenses support project this year.

In January, the city announced "On Busan All Day Like You Cherished," the nation's first Busan-style care and education policy brand, prepared in collaboration with the Office of Education, 16 districts and counties, and local universities. The city is promoting an integrated care policy in which the public sector takes full responsibility for seamless care and education for Busan's children from birth through sixth grade, anytime and anywhere.

In 2023, Busan's total fertility rate was 0.66, which is the lowest level after Seoul.

The city is making every effort to implement the integrated care policy in order to overcome the national crisis of low birth rates, reduce the economic burden of child-rearing for parents, and provide non-discriminatory childcare services across regions.

Furthermore, to ensure that foreign children are guaranteed equal childcare opportunities and can settle as members of the local community without any discrimination based on their own or their guardians' race or place of birth, the city amended the "Busan Metropolitan City Ordinance on Support for Foreign Residents" on April 3, establishing grounds for supporting childcare fees for foreign children.

The city is currently consulting with the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the establishment (or revision) of social security systems to smoothly promote projects such as: ▲support for childcare fees for foreign children ▲support for emergency childcare fees (such as Busan-style 365 Open Hourly Childcare) when parents urgently need to leave their children at care facilities ▲relaxation of eligibility criteria for newlywed couples' housing loans and interest support projects (including easing income criteria and raising the upper limit for housing support).

Mayor Park Hyungjoon stated, "We plan to faithfully implement the 'On Busan All Day Like You Cherished' integrated care policy, which takes responsibility for children from birth through care and education, to realize Busan-style free childcare," and added, "We will focus the city's capabilities to make Busan a vibrant city full of children's laughter, a city that is ideal for raising and educating children."

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