Opening of January Gu-rip Kkumbit Daycare Center Begins... Achieving 53% Public Daycare Usage Rate This Year ... First Hub-Type Public Workplace Daycare Center in Mapo-gu Scheduled to Open in June
[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] “I want to be known as ‘Mapo, the best place to raise children.’ We will continuously strive to create a foundation for a child-friendly environment and expand high-quality childcare services,” said Yudonggyun, Mayor of Mapo-gu.
Mapo-gu (Mayor Yudonggyun) is expanding eight public daycare centers this year to create a safe childcare environment where “children are happy and parents can trust and leave their children with confidence.”
First, the district opened the public Kkumbit Daycare Center in the Gongdeok SK Leaders View Apartment Complex 1 on January 19, followed by the opening of Saebit Daycare Center (Gongdeok SK Leaders View Apartment Complex 2) and Haesol Daycare Center (inside Changjeon-dong youth housing) on March 2.
In June, two public daycare centers (Sandeul Daycare Center and Haedeul Daycare Center) are scheduled to open within the Yeomni 3 District Prestige Xi Apartment Complex.
Additionally, two public daycare centers that were either old or located in redevelopment areas are currently under construction with the goal of opening by the end of the year, and two existing private daycare centers in the Gongdeok Raemian Apartment Complex are also being prepared for conversion into public daycare centers.
Furthermore, Mapo-gu’s first hub-type public workplace daycare center, the Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service Mapo Daycare Center (Yeonnam-dong), will open in June.
The hub-type public workplace daycare center in Mapo-gu will be a three-story building with a capacity to accommodate approximately 65 children.
This hub-type public workplace daycare center is established near areas densely populated with small and medium-sized enterprises or transportation hubs, serving not only workers but also non-regular employees and small business owners who require dual-income households for livelihood.
Since 2016, Mapo-gu has actively expanded public daycare centers to meet parents’ demand for public childcare. As a result, the number of public daycare centers has nearly doubled from 46 in 2016 to 79 currently, with a total of 3,896 children using public daycare centers in the district as of the end of February.
With the addition of eight new public daycare centers this year, the district will operate a total of 83 public daycare centers by the end of the year.
Consequently, the utilization rate of public daycare centers in Mapo-gu (the ratio of children using public daycare centers to total daycare users) will increase to 53%. This figure is significantly higher than the government’s target of 40% and the Seoul city average of 43.9% (as of February 2021).
Mayor Yudonggyun of Mapo-gu stated, “Considering the growing preference of parents for public daycare centers, our goal is to raise the utilization rate of public daycare centers in Mapo-gu to 55% by 2025. We will continue to make multifaceted efforts to improve the childcare environment, including expanding public daycare centers, to realize the vision of Mapo as ‘the best city to raise children.’”
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