2024-04-01 22:48:15
On the 1st, the People Power Party responded to Emergency Response Committee Chairman and General Election Committee Chairman Han Dong-hoon’s pledge to ‘promote free childcare and education starting from the age of 5 next year’, saying, “Additional resources are estimated at approximately 700 billion won,” and “an attempt is made to share resources.” “We plan to actively consult with the Office of Education and local governments,” he said.
According to News 1, Hong Seok-cheol, special chairman of the Central Election Committee for the 22nd National Assembly election, held a briefing on the free education pledge at the central party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul this afternoon and said this. Previously, Chairman Han announced that he would significantly increase the government subsidy, which was 280,000 won per month per child, to the level of standard childcare expenses (522,000 won) and standard early childhood education expenses (557,000 won).
Chairman Hong said, “Currently, 280,000 won per month is provided for child care and infant tuition, but standard child care and standard child care education fees are 520,000 won and 560,000 won, respectively, creating a gap between national support and necessary expenses.” He added, “Next year, free education for 5-year-olds “Once the childcare policy is implemented, the additional burden on parents will disappear in most daycare centers and kindergartens,” he said.
Regarding measures to raise financial resources, he said, “We plan to actively invest in the central government budget, including the national treasury budget,” and “In the process, we will also fully consider the use of local education financial grants.”
He also said, “Right now, we will implement a free education and childcare policy starting from the age of 5 next year, and then sequentially expand it to the age of 4 and 3, taking financial resources into account.” He added, “We talked about the budget for free childcare for 5-year-olds, but the budget will gradually decrease in the future.” “I think this is because the number of births is rapidly decreasing,” he said.
He emphasized, “A considerable amount of budget will be spent for free childcare and education in the future, but considering the future of the country, it will not be a waste of investment at all.” He added, “I think it is a pledge that must be pursued as a top priority.”
Lee Young, chairman of the special committee on narrowing the gap, also said, “Currently, in our country, free childcare for children ages 0 to 2 and free education from elementary school to high school are provided, but there is a disconnect between ages 3 and 5.” He added, “With this pledge, we provide free childcare from birth to high school.” He added, “It has become possible to realize the goal of free childcare and education. It is a pledge that becomes a milestone in Korea’s childcare and education policy.”
Chairman Hong met with reporters after the briefing and said, “There is a way to provide benefits by providing financial resources for the work-family balance system to those in blind spots through the special account for low birth rate announced in the first pledge.” He added, “The party has a special plan to provide benefits.” “For employed workers and artists, we plan to solve the problem through voluntary subscription to employment insurance, and for the self-employed, we plan to expand parental leave benefits through special accounting in response to low birth rates,” he explained.
He continued, “Even in the case of self-employed people, there may be people who close their business and need to take care of their children for a certain period of time. In such cases, policy support similar to parental leave is possible.” “If it is necessary to secure time for child care, services such as parental leave and reduced childcare working hours may be partially provided,” he said.
At the same time, he said, “A way to actively support child care services to secure time to take care of children while maintaining self-employment is also a way to expand the work-family balance system to the self-employed.” He added, “If we create it to suit the demand of the self-employed, we will be able to design the system.” He said.
Reporter Kim Jeong-hyeon Photo News 1
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2024-04-01 22:48:15