Seoul City Invests 1.9 Trillion Won to Become a 'Child-Rearing Friendly Childcare Special City'

Focused Promotion on Three Major Areas to Reduce Childcare Burden

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 15th that, with the determination that "if you have a child, Seoul will raise them together," it has selected three major childcare sectors and will focus on nine projects by reflecting various opinions from infant families and childcare teachers in the field. Seoul will invest a total childcare budget of 1.9013 trillion won this year to create a "Special Childcare City, Seoul."

This year, the inaugural year of the 'Mom and Dad Happiness Project,' new projects will be actively promoted, and representative childcare brands under Mayor Oh Se-hoon's administration, such as Seoul-type Moa Daycare Centers, will be further expanded and revitalized.

Seoul operates key projects in three major areas: 'dense public childcare support,' 'strengthening childcare service quality,' and 'infant and toddler parenting support,' including expanding Moa Daycare Centers and operating dedicated classes for zero-year-olds in daycare centers.

First, for 'dense public childcare support,' Seoul will ▲expand Seoul-type Moa Daycare Centers ▲increase Seoul-type and national/public daycare centers ▲establish Seoul-type weekend daycare centers.

First, the ‘Seoul-type Moa Daycare Centers’ will be expanded to 60 communities (240 daycare centers) this year based on high responsiveness from the childcare field. Also, with the goal of making one out of two daycare centers national/public by 2025, the proportion of national/public daycare centers will be increased from 36.4% to 43% this year. Along with this, the scale of newly certified ‘Seoul-type Daycare Centers,’ Seoul’s public childcare brand, will continue to expand (6 centers in 2021 → 78 centers in 2022 → 104 centers in 2023). This year, a total of 600 centers will provide national/public level public childcare services to about 15,600 infants and toddlers, creating Seoul-type Daycare Centers where children, parents, and teachers are all happy.

Starting in June, 10 new ‘Seoul-type Weekend Daycare Centers (tentative name)’ specialized in Saturday and Sunday childcare will operate to provide quality childcare services to families working on weekends. Additionally, four more ‘365 Open Daycare Centers’ providing night, holiday, and 24-hour emergency childcare for infants and toddlers will be designated, expanding to a total of 15 centers this year.

Seoul aims to install at least one ‘Seoul-type Weekend Daycare Center (tentative name)’ or ‘365 Open Daycare Center’ in every autonomous district to provide emergency childcare services close to home.

Secondly, to ‘strengthen childcare service quality,’ Seoul will ▲improve teacher-to-child ratios ▲operate Seoul-type zero-year-old dedicated classes ▲support full-time teachers at Seoul-type Daycare Centers.

As the top demand in the childcare field, Seoul’s ‘Teacher-to-Child Ratio Improvement Project,’ which started nationwide for the first time last year, will select an additional 240 daycare centers this year, expanding to a total of 400 centers. Also, starting in March this year, a pilot operation of ‘Seoul-type zero-year-old dedicated classes’ for infants under 12 months who require meticulous care will begin. In these classes, childcare teachers who have completed specialized training care for two children in a separate dedicated childcare room, fewer than the legal standard of three children per teacher. This will start with 100 classes (70 daycare centers) this year.

The ‘Seoul-type Full-time Teacher Project,’ launched nationwide for the first time last year, will designate an additional 104 daycare centers this year, supporting a total of 300 centers and providing a stable childcare environment for about 7,800 infants and toddlers.

Lastly, to strengthen ‘infant and toddler parenting support,’ Seoul will ▲open the Seoul Child Development Support Center ▲support dinner meals at daycare centers for infants and toddlers ▲promote expert parenting coaching.

Seoul will open the ‘Seoul Child Development Support Center’ (2nd floor, Space Salim, Dongjak-gu) in April. The center provides one-stop support from free initial consultations to developmental assessments and treatment connections for families concerned about their infants’ and toddlers’ developmental status.

From March, 100 daycare centers will be selected as ‘Dinner Support Daycare Centers’ to allow children who use extended night childcare or those who leave early in the evening (before 7 p.m.) to have dinner at the daycare center before going home.

Starting in March, Seoul will launch a ‘Parenting Expert Coaching’ support project where experts provide customized coaching to novice moms and dads to solve various concerns that arise during child-rearing.

Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Women and Family Policy Office, said, “We will reduce the parenting burden on moms and dads by promoting key projects in the three major childcare sectors that can provide practical help to infant families and the childcare field.” She added, “By creating a healthy growth environment for infants and toddlers and a childcare environment that moms and dads can trust, we will build a Special Childcare City Seoul that is great for raising children.”

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