Benefits for 600 Children Aged 3-5 Starting July
Plan to Gradually Expand to Ages 0-2
Gyeongbuk Province will invest 1 billion KRW starting this second half of the year to become the first metropolitan local government to fully support a monthly childcare fee of 280,000 KRW for foreign children attending the Nuri Curriculum (ages 3 to 5) at daycare centers.
As part of the Gyeongsangbuk-do immigration policy announced last April, Gyeongbuk Province will provide childcare fees to about 600 foreign children (ages 3 to 5) starting from July this year.
This pilot project is based on the results of the "Gyeongsangbuk-do Foreign Residents and Multicultural Families Survey" conducted by Gyeongbuk Province, which found that the main reason overseas Koreans and foreigners with permanent residency find it difficult to live in Gyeongbuk is child-rearing and education.
In South Korea, support for childcare from birth to before school age includes home care allowances, daycare center childcare fees, and kindergarten tuition fees.
For foreign children attending kindergarten (ages 3 to 5), the provincial and city education offices fully cover tuition fees; however, foreign children of the same age (3 to 5) attending daycare centers must bear the childcare fees themselves. Gyeongbuk Province is investing local funds to eliminate this discrimination among foreign children.
Starting in July, when childcare fees for foreign children across all cities and counties in Gyeongbuk are provided free of charge just like kindergarten fees, it is expected that many foreign children who were previously cared for at home will attend daycare centers.
Accordingly, it is anticipated that more foreign children will receive high-quality childcare services in South Korea.
Furthermore, Gyeongbuk Province plans to conduct a self-evaluation with cities and counties around December, when the pilot project ends, to assess the effectiveness and necessity of maintaining the program, and to establish it as a regular program starting in 2025.
In addition, the province intends to gradually expand childcare fee support to infants and toddlers (ages 0 to 2) at daycare centers, aiming for non-discriminatory childcare for both domestic and foreign children in the future.
Applications for support can be submitted by foreign families to daycare centers along with the required documents.
The documents submitted to each daycare center will be collected and forwarded to the childcare departments of the respective cities and counties, which will review the documents and directly provide the childcare fees to the daycare centers.
For detailed inquiries, guidance can be obtained through the childcare departments of each city and county.
Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, stated, "By supporting childcare fees for foreign children, we aim to create a foundation that makes it easier for foreigners to live here. We will promote leading foreign settlement support policies such as childbirth, childcare, and care support to overcome population decline in Gyeongbuk and revitalize the local economy, striving to expand the attraction of foreigners."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
