Seongnam-si to Greatly Expand Childcare Services

[Asia Economy (Seongnam) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province is significantly expanding its child care projects, including increasing the number of Dahamkke Care Centers to 32.

Seongnam City announced on the 19th that following its certification as a child-friendly city by the UNICEF Korea Committee in August last year, it will promote 25 strategic projects such as operating a child participation group and expanding Dahamkke Care Centers through the 'Child-Friendly City Promotion Committee,' which consists of the Office of Education, police station, universities, and child rights organizations.

First, to eliminate care gaps, the city plans to increase the number of national and public daycare centers to 100 by the end of this year and add three Dahamkke Care Centers and three school care centers. This will bring the total number of Dahamkke Care Centers to 32, the highest nationwide.

Additionally, to create a comfortable childcare environment, the city will promote green remodeling to improve the energy performance of buildings in seven daycare centers that are over 10 years old.

The city will also take the lead in publicizing child abuse prevention projects and expand the number of dedicated child abuse public officials to 11.

Furthermore, to improve public awareness of child abuse, 16,000 copies of educational materials will be produced this year and distributed to parents registering births and those receiving school enrollment notifications.

Besides these efforts, the city will strengthen childcare support services through the Comprehensive Childcare Support Center and a large toy library. Notably, the large toy library, which opened nationwide for the first time on the 3rd, lends out about 600 large toys such as air bouncers, slides, and cars, easing the childcare cost burden on parents.

Kim Soon-shin, head of the city's Childcare Division, emphasized, "We will do our best so that the approximately 130,000 children in Seongnam and their protective parents can be happy by allowing children to speak, listen, and participate directly."

Meanwhile, last month, the city established a mid- to long-term basic child policy plan containing four policy goals and nine policy tasks under the vision of "Seongnam, a happy city that listens to the voices of children."