Child care centers to go on strike over budget debacle

Published : Oct 25, 2015 - 18:12 Updated : Oct 25, 2015 - 20:42

A major association of private child care centers said it would shut down temporarily this week to protest over the government’s decision to cut its budget for child care.

Upon the decision by the Korea Educare Association, parents, particularly those of double-income families, struggled to find places that can look after their kids during the shutdown.

“Even though I haven’t heard anything from the child care center that my kids attend, I am thinking about taking a few days off or asking my parents or friends to take care of my children for the next week,” said Song Ki-eun, the 30-year-old mother of a 2-year-old boy.

If the KEA, an interest group for privately run child care centers with about 14,000 registered entities, goes ahead with its plan, officials estimate that 700,000 children would be affected. The KEA expected that half of its member child care centers would join the move.

Teachers at child care centers protested on Friday over the government`s decision to cut its budget for child care programs. Yonhap.

The shutdown came as a part of the child centers’ attempt to block the government’s move to freeze subsidies for centers looking after infants aged 0 to 2. The centers claim that the government had promised to increase the budget by 3 percent in 2016.

The caregivers also protested over the government’s failure to fund its free child-care policy, known as Nuri Curriculum, which provides preschools and child care centers with subsidies that help them implement the free welfare policy for children aged 3 to 5.

As the opposition grew, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday it would work with lawmakers to increase the subsidies, while trying to encourage municipal governments to fund the Nuri program.

But the prospects for funding of the Nuri Curriculum, one of President Park Geun-hye’s key pledges in her presidential campaign in 2012, looked grim as the central government and municipalities continued to clash over which agencies were responsible for funding the free child care initiative.

The government has mandated that provincial and municipal education offices should fund the program through their own budgets, while the offices have rejected the government’s demand and insisted that the program be funded by the central government.

Meanwhile, the Welfare Ministry has urged the caregivers to withdraw their push to shut down the day care facilities and warned that those involved would be held accountable.

“I am sick and tired of the struggles over welfare policies. Their fight over their own vested interests only ends up leaving the parents and the children suffering the most,” said Song.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)