The Ministry of Education on Thursday said that in four years it hopes to have 72 percent of two-to-six-year-olds enrolled in preschool programs.
The ministry announced the goal while giving a presentation on its childcare policy for children younger than six at an Executive Yuan meeting in Taipei.
The enrollment rate among children younger than two increased from 9 percent in 2016 to 13 percent last year, the ministry said in its presentation.
Meanwhile, the average enrollment rate among two-to-six-year-olds was 67 percent last year, 7 percentage points more than in 2016, it said.
Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said he hopes that in the next four years that figure will reach 72 percent, and that the rate of affordable preschool services would reach 70 percent to catch up with the average among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development nations.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has proposed the “next phase” in the government’s childcare policy for children younger than six, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said at the meeting.
It includes making education more affordable by reducing fees for public and quasi-public preschools by NT$1,000 per month, raising childcare subsidies to up to NT$5,000 per month and extending the age of eligibility to six years old, he said.
He asked the ministry to plan accordingly and the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics to provide any financial support needed.
To create an environment that is friendly toward child-rearing and to reduce the financial burden on families of having children, the government has since 2018 been pushing a plan to counter the declining birthrate, Su said.
It has provided about 400,000 education opportunities in the areas of affordable daycare centers and preschools, he said.
The number of children who have benefited from childcare subsidies has increased from 260,000 in 2016 to 870,000 last year, Su said.
Meanwhile, the overall budget for childcare policy has this year increased to NT$45 billion (US$1.5 billion), compared with about NT$15 billion in 2016, he added.
Starting this year, the government is to continue providing subsidies of NT$3,000 to NT$6,000 to families with two to three-year-olds who have not been enrolled in preschool programs and are still being looked after by nannies or daycare centers, Su said, adding that this program would benefit 16,000 children.
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