"No Knowledge of Staff or Budget"... Education Office Stunned by 'Yubotonghap' Announcement

Less than Half a Year Left Before Yubotonghap Implementation
Detailed Information Not Delivered to Education Offices for Transfer
Difficulties in Personnel Allocation and Work Coordination with City and District Offices
Ministry of Education "Consulting with Relevant Agencies"

The Ministry of Education has begun the process of transferring early childhood care and education tasks to the metropolitan and provincial offices of education to promote 'Yubo Integration' next year, but it has been found that the education offices have not received detailed budget and personnel allocation plans.

A Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education official stated on the 3rd, "We have not received information on the scale of personnel and scope of work to be transferred from the Ministry of Education," adding, "We need the final guidelines to be able to consult with the city and district offices." On the previous day, Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, also said at a press conference marking his 10th anniversary in office, "If the budget, personnel, and space are not perfectly transferred to the education office, fierce conflicts between the education office and daycare centers will arise from next year."

On the 27th of last month, the Ministry of Education announced the 'Yubo Integration Implementation Plan' and stated that it would complete the related legal amendments by the second half of this year to finalize the transfer of early childhood care and education tasks. The plan is to distribute the early childhood care and education tasks currently handled by metropolitan/provincial and city/county/district offices so that city/county/district offices manage daycare centers, and education offices manage kindergartens. However, since the scope of the task transfer, specific personnel allocation, and budget allocation have not been determined, metropolitan/provincial and city/county/district offices and education offices have not been able to hold work consultations.

Because of this, there is a forecast that it will be difficult for the education offices to implement Yubo Integration starting from the target period next year. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the district office personnel responsible for early childhood care and education tasks in Seoul number 400, and the city office has 31, totaling 431 personnel. Currently, the education office has only 12 personnel in the Yubo Integration Promotion Team handling these tasks. The 431 personnel who previously handled the tasks must be allocated to the education office to avoid disruption to current administrative work.

Moreover, the scope of the tasks to be transferred has not been determined. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said, "It has not been confirmed whether tasks handled by district offices such as the Childcare Comprehensive Support Center, toy playgrounds, and kids cafes will be transferred to the education office," adding, "This also requires guidelines from the Ministry of Education to consult with the city and district offices."

The specific budget size has also not been determined, making it uncertain whether it can be included in next year's budget plan to be organized this year. As of this year, the budget for early childhood education and care, organized through national and local funds, is about 17.1 trillion won, part of which needs to be allocated to the education offices. Regarding this, the Ministry of Education explained, "We are in consultation with related agencies," and added, "We will discuss so that we can provide information on the budget by the end of the year."