Kindergarten draw reform
Recently, a hot topic among many of my relatives and friends with young children has been whether they have won draws for public kindergarten enrollments. The lucky ones who are able to send their children to affordable public kindergartens after winning a draw are often told by envious friends that their prayers have been answered. Netizens even joke that they must have done something good, perhaps helping an elderly person cross the road.
The draws in Taipei and New Taipei City took place over the past few weeks. Although they differ slightly between the cities, enrollment rates are equally low for both.
The reason public kindergartens are so desirable is that tuition fees are low and they maintain a certain level of quality. My niece failed to win a draw two years ago.
After a year in a private kindergarten, her parents had spent almost NT$200,000 on tuition, monthly fees and other expenses. That should be enough to explain the huge difference between public and private kindergartens.
Taiwan’s low birthrate is nothing new. Why does no one discuss why the current and past presidents have not tried to improve the unfriendly childcare system?
The situation today has changed, because many families are double-income households and have no grandparents to help take care of their children. The current childcare system that gives admission priority to children aged five or above should have a lower threshold, so that children aged three can go to public kindergartens. How can the government encourage young people to have more children with such an unfriendly childcare policy?
As next year’s presidential election approaches, those running will hopefully stop the empty talk and attacks on each other. The low birthrate could shake the foundation of the nation, so the candidates should propose concrete, feasible and beneficial solutions, so that hard-working parents no longer have to rely on prayers when they want to send their children to affordable public kindergartens.
Is that too much to ask?
Yeh Tzu-tsen
New Taipei City
Better Taitung healthcare
An article by Chen Chien-hsien mentioned the healthcare difficulties in Taitung and the latest policies the government has tried (“Ideas for improving healthcare in Taitung,” May 30, page 8). Chen mentioned three possibilities: recruiting young people to work in remote areas, improving medical equipment at health centers in rural townships and introducing measures to improve the division of labor.
Being constantly concerned about the healthcare issue in Taiwan, the suggestions provided by the residents on how to solve the problem would be effective, but they need government assistance and funding. A lack of pharmacies in remote areas is another problem.
In some towns, there are no pharmacies, which is inconvenient for people with chronic diseases. Indeed, healthcare resources in remote areas are relatively low compared with metropolitan areas.
For example, residents of Taipei’s Daan District (大安) can reach the nearest hospital in six minutes, while for people in Taitung County it can take hours and transportation costs a lot.
One solution would be to attract doctors to start their careers in remote areas. The government should provide a wider scope of benefits for doctors so that they are more likely to stay in remote areas.
There is no need to build a hospital to solve the problem, but the quality of care could be improved by establishing primary-care community clinics that provide treatment and basic healthcare.
Lena Li
Tainan
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