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Hsieh favors preschool, daycare integration

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh plays a hen protecting her chicks during a visit to a kindergarten in Taipei County yesterday. PHOTO: CHEN YI-SHAN, TAIPEI TIMES

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday vowed to push for the integration of kindergartens and daycare centers to provide better preschool education if elected president.

"Care for preschool children in the past few decades was insufficient, but we have made some progress in recent years," Hsieh said. "The trend is to integrate kindergartens with daycare centers."

"The integration can help advance the state and quality of education and daycare for preschoolers," he said.

Hsieh made the comments while visiting a private-run kindergarten in Sanchong City in Taipei County.

Although the Cabinet had passed such a proposal in 2005 under his premiership, the draft has yet to be approved by the legislature.

Hsieh said that the population of children aged three to five number about 800,000, but public kindergartens and daycare centers can only accommodate about 130,000 children.

To help parents who cannot afford private preschool tuition, Hsieh said he would provide full tuition subsidies for families whose annual income is lower than NT$300,000 (US$9,000).

Families whose annual income is between NT$300,000 and NT$600,000 will receive subsidies covering half of their tuition costs, he said, adding that the subsidies would cost the government NT$5 billion each year.

However, given a declining birth rate, public schools now have many spare classrooms, which can serve as locations for future government-run or funded preschools and daycare centers, Hsieh said.

The government should also build a sound management system to monitor child caregivers to safeguard children's physical and psychological development, he said.
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