29% Increase in Infants Using Morning Care at Daycare Centers... Ministry of Education Cites "Policy Effect"

408 Senior Childcare Assistants Assigned to Kindergartens

Ministry of Education: "Strengthening Childcare Through Workforce and Wage Support"

The Ministry of Education has announced plans to strengthen tailored support for each institution in order to meet the demand for childcare in kindergartens and daycare centers.

On May 7, the Ministry stated that it will assign "senior childcare assistants" to kindergartens to handle morning and evening childcare work, while providing wage support for morning care staff at daycare centers to ensure sufficient childcare services.

Since March of this year, the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, has been supporting the "Kindergarten Senior Childcare Assistant" program in kindergartens across the country that wish to participate. As of this date, 408 senior childcare assistants are active in 245 kindergartens nationwide. These senior childcare assistants complete specialized training in childcare and on-site understanding before supporting drop-off and pick-up, as well as morning and evening care, at kindergartens.

Currently, the program is in its pilot phase, but the Ministry plans to expand support for kindergarten senior childcare assistants in the future. The Ministry of Education is actively reviewing placement demand for 2027.

For daycare centers, the Ministry has newly introduced an "allowance for morning care teachers" starting this year. Until now, there was no support for "morning care" provided before regular care began at 9 a.m. at daycare centers. As a result, it was difficult to provide sufficient services early in the morning, but with this new support, the cumulative number of infants and young children using morning care from January to March of this year reached approximately 1,692,000—a 29% increase compared to the same period last year. The Ministry credits this to the effectiveness of the policy and has stated that it will continue to support morning care at daycare centers, reviewing and improving operations as necessary.

Kim Jeong-yeon, Director of Early Childhood Support at the Ministry of Education, said, "As the number of dual-income families increases, 'gap care' during commute times plays a crucial role in easing the burden of parenting for parents. We will provide comprehensive support through the placement of senior childcare assistants at kindergartens and the allowance for morning care teachers at daycare centers."

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