Dongdaemun-gu to Provide 4 Billion KRW Support for Expanding Infant Snack Expenses and Improving Childcare Staff Treatment

Published 13 May.2021 16:15(KST)

Expansion of Infant and Toddler Snack Expenses, Improvement of Childcare Staff Treatment, and Enhancement of Daycare Center Facilities

Dongdaemun-gu to Provide 4 Billion KRW Support for Expanding Infant Snack Expenses and Improving Childcare Staff Treatment

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor You Deok-yeol) will significantly expand support for infants and toddlers using daycare centers, childcare staff, and facilities to create the optimal childcare environment for raising children, with approximately 4 billion KRW allocated this year.

The district will invest the increased budget in various projects such as improving childcare staff treatment, daycare center operating expenses, facility reinforcement, and supply support.

First, to ensure that children using daycare centers receive balanced and safe meals and snacks without discrimination, the previous support of 12,500 KRW per infant and 10,000 KRW per toddler will be unified and increased to 14,000 KRW per child per month starting this year, expanding the total to 1.21 billion KRW for infant and toddler snack expenses.

Additionally, 30.5 million KRW was provided from the district budget to support Children's Day event expenses.

Moreover, since improving childcare staff treatment is the top priority to create daycare centers that parents can trust and where children are happy, the district supports ▲an expanded longevity allowance up to 70,000 KRW per month ▲director research and development expenses of 70,000 KRW per month ▲welfare expenses of 80,000 KRW per month ▲holiday allowances of 50,000 KRW each for Lunar New Year and Chuseok ▲and healing training expenses of 40 million KRW annually.

It is expected that these morale-boosting and treatment improvement measures for childcare staff will help create a childcare environment where infants and toddlers can receive high-quality childcare services.

At the same time, to ensure similar levels of childcare regardless of whether one chooses public, private, or home daycare centers, including national and public daycare centers, the district provides ▲up to 1.2 million KRW annually for heating and cooling costs ▲300,000 KRW per month for cooking staff wages ▲and an average of 1 million KRW for teaching materials and educational tools to all daycare centers.

To create a safe and comfortable childcare environment, about 400 million KRW in budget will be supported for environmental improvement projects such as repairing aging facilities, replacing LEDs, rearranging childcare spaces, heat shielding and insulation projects (Kloof installation), and indoor environment improvement projects (double-glazed window improvements, heating and cooling system support).

Meanwhile, since last year, the district has provided various support measures to establish a safe childcare environment from COVID-19.

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the district supplied daycare centers with 164 thermal imaging cameras, 191 flu gun sterilizers, 9,915 disinfectants, and 174,540 masks, totaling about 320 million KRW worth of quarantine supplies. This year, each daycare center received 1 million KRW in disaster relief funds.

You Deok-yeol, Mayor of Dongdaemun-gu, stated, “Dongdaemun-gu will provide integrated and balanced support without neglecting childcare staff, infants and toddlers, or daycare centers, building a high-quality childcare environment and creating a neighborhood that is great for raising children.”