Bucheon City Opens Two Public Childcare Centers...Mandatory Installation in Apartment Complexes with Over 500 Households

Increase in Public and National Childcare Center Usage Rate from 10.2% to 14%

Newly opened Bucheon Jungdong Central Park Daycare Center
Photo by Bucheon City

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Bucheon City in Gyeonggi Province has newly opened two public daycare centers to create a safe and pleasant public childcare environment.

According to the city on the 7th, the newly opened Jungdong Central Park Daycare Center and Ipyunhan Onsu Daycare Center are the first and second daycare centers mandatorily established within apartment complexes with more than 500 households, in accordance with the revised Infant Care Act as of September last year.

From January to April this year, Bucheon City newly established four daycare centers: Sangdong Haneulkkum Daycare Center, Jungdong Harrington Daycare Center, Ipyunhan Simgok Daycare Center, and Achimhaetsal Daycare Center, securing a total capacity of 149 children.

With this new opening, an additional 146 public daycare spots have been secured, increasing the utilization rate of public daycare centers from 10.2% at the end of June 2018 to 14.0%, a significant rise.

The city plans to continuously increase the number of public daycare centers through various methods beyond the mandatory installation in apartment complexes with over 500 households. To this end, discussions are underway on converting private and home daycare centers into public ones through long-term leases and expanding public daycare centers within complex facilities through the Living SOC project.

Including the six newly expanded centers in the first half of this year, a total of 50 public daycare centers are currently operating in Bucheon.

A Bucheon city official stated, "We will continue to secure the public nature of childcare and strive to create a safe childcare environment that satisfies parents, infants, and teachers alike," adding, "We will steadily expand not only public daycare centers but also open daycare centers and public-type daycare centers to build a solid childcare infrastructure."