The Ministry of Education yesterday said it plans to increase the number of public and semi-public kindergartens to serve 70 percent of the nation’s children within five years.
The plan, designed to boost the nation’s birthrate, would ensure affordable childcare for nearly 500,000 children aged five and under by the year 2024, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said.
The primary objective is to increase the number of public kindergartens, and supplement that with semi-public kindergartens and childcare subsidies, he said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The ministry aims to set up public kindergartens at every elementary school by 2024, which would increase the total capacity of the nation’s public kindergartens by 86,000 children to a total of 270,000 children, Pan said.
Meanwhile, the ministry expects to see more private kindergartens joining its semi-public program in August, when the program would be launched in the six special municipalities, he said.
While there are 310 semi-public kindergartens, which account for 40 percent of all private kindergartens that qualify for the program, the ministry is offering more subsidies to kindergartens that would join, to attract more kindergartens, he said.
They include annual subsidies of NT$200,000 to NT$400,000 for improving kindergartens’ facilities and NT$60,000 for training teachers, he said.
By 2024, the ministry hopes to see the number of semi-public kindergartens increase to 2,200 to serve 227,000 children, he said, adding that there are more than 4,000 private kindergartens.
While the monthly fee for public kindergartens is NT$2,500, that for semi-public kindergartens is NT$4,500, or NT$3,500 if the child is third in the birth order or further down, the ministry said.
If the original cost is higher than NT$4,500 or NT$3,500, the ministry would cover the difference, it said.
For children aged two to four who stay at home or attend private kindergartens that are not part of the semi-public program, starting from August the ministry would offer a monthly childcare subsidy of NT$2,500 or NT$3,500 if the child is third in the birth order or further down, it said.
However, only parents who have not applied for a government subsidy for unpaid parental leave and have an income tax rate of less than 20 percent can apply.
Meanwhile, private kindergartens that do not join the program would receive a subsidy of NT$50,000 to improve their facilities, it said.
Since the ministry launched the semi-public program in 15 cities and counties in August last year, it has received some complaints and made improvements, Pan said.
They include new subsidies for private kindergartens to help them improve facilities and teaching, and increasing the number of planned public kindergartens, he said.
He hopes the plan would allow more young couples to have children and improve the quality of kindergartens nationwide, he said, adding: “We will continue to review and optimize the policy.”
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