Hwaseong City to Expand 'Hwaseong-style Daycare Centers' to 20 Locations This Year

Five New Sites Designated This Year... Strengthening Publicness and Professionalism of Private Childcare Centers

Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province has expanded the number of 'Hwaseong-type Daycare Centers,' designated to strengthen the public nature and professionalism of private daycare centers, from 15 to 20.

Hwaseong City announced on the 22nd that it newly designated five private daycare centers as 'Hwaseong-type Daycare Centers' this year in response to the increasing demand for high-quality childcare facilities. The 'Hwaseong-type Daycare Center' project supports private and home daycare centers to enhance the quality of childcare services by strengthening publicness, accountability, and professionalism.

The newly designated 'Hwaseong-type Daycare Centers' this year are Saesol IEL (Saesol-dong), Hahaha (Dongtan 2-dong), iMoms (Dongtan 4-dong), Pogunhi (Hyangnam-eup), and Haetsalmaru (Bongdam-eup).

Designated daycare centers receive support such as reducing the child-to-teacher ratio through teacher salary subsidies, providing high-quality meals and various experiential opportunities for infants, and creating a play-friendly environment through daycare environment improvements and indoor air quality measurements. Additionally, education and mentoring are provided to daycare center directors and childcare teachers to enhance their professionalism.

Jung Myung-geun, mayor of Hwaseong City, said, "Creating a trustworthy childcare environment is very important to address the low birthrate issue," adding, "The operation of Hwaseong-type Daycare Centers will be a project that satisfies parents, children, and childcare staff alike."

Meanwhile, last year, Hwaseong City recorded 6,700 births, the highest among basic local governments nationwide. The total fertility rate was also 0.98, higher than the Gyeonggi Province average of 0.77 and the national average of 0.72.