Incheon City announced on the 6th that it plans to newly designate 20 public-type daycare centers this year to expand the base of public childcare. To this end, the city issued a recruitment announcement on the 2nd and will accept applications until the 13th.
Public-type daycare centers aim to provide childcare services at the level of national and public daycare centers so that parents can entrust their children with peace of mind. When newly designated, various evaluation criteria are applied to closely review eligibility.
The recruitment targets are private and home daycare centers not supported by the government, and only those without administrative sanctions and that comply with facility installation standards are included. Daycare centers that meet the basic requirements are evaluated on factors such as treatment of childcare staff, professionalism of directors and teachers, and expenditure on meals and snacks, and those ranking within the designated range are appointed as public-type centers.
Once designated as a public-type daycare center, they receive support for operating expenses, cook staff wages, support funds for activating toddler classes, and quality improvement costs for the Nuri curriculum. The budget for the public-type daycare center support project this year is a total of 10.5 billion KRW, and based on the current 128 centers, more than 80 million KRW per center per year is supported.
Incheon City has been continuously expanding more than 10 public-type daycare centers annually, with 17 in 2021, 10 in 2022, and 13 last year. As of last month, there are a total of 128 public-type daycare centers in Incheon, and adding the 20 newly designated centers planned for this year is expected to increase the total to 148.
Last month, the city newly designated 16 Incheon-type daycare centers, which improved childcare quality by lowering the teacher-to-child ratio. Once the new public-type daycare centers are designated, Incheon’s public childcare utilization rate is expected to rise from 40.3% last year to 45% by the end of this year. The public childcare utilization rate refers to the proportion of children using national, public, and other public childcare centers among all childcare children.
An official from Incheon City stated, "Public-type daycare centers, along with national/public and Incheon-type daycare centers, play a key role in Incheon’s public childcare system," and added, "We expect this new designation to contribute to expanding the base of public childcare and improving utilization rates."
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