The Cabinet yesterday unveiled a series of policies aimed at countering the nation’s low birthrate, including increasing the number of public childcare centers and kindergartens, working with private institutions to promote affordable “semi-public” childcare and preschool programs, and relaxing eligibility criteria for childcare subsidies.
The government has drafted several strategies to make childcare services and preschools more accessible and affordable, and increase the female labor force participation rate, Minister Without Portfolio Lin Wan-i (林萬億) said.
It would gradually increase the percentage of public childcare centers for children younger than two from 9.3 percent to 20 percent, and the percentage of public kindergartens designed for children aged two to five from 30 percent to 40 percent, he said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
It hopes that by 2022, an additional 5,280 children would be able to enjoy public childcare services and 60,000 more would attend public kindergartens, he said.
The government would also promote a program to help private childcare centers and kindergartens become “semi-public,” Lin said.
Private institutions that conform with building and safety regulations, meet the legal staff-to-child ratio and provide good services can sign contracts with the government to receive subsidies that would cover the difference between what parents can afford and their full rates, he said.
In return, semi-public institutions should allow parents to pay only 10 to 15 percent of their disposable income for the services, and raise the wages of childcare professionals and preschool teachers to at least NT$28,000 (US$937) and NT$29,000 respectively, he said.
The fees families will have to pay for semi-public childcare services and kindergartens would vary depending on their income, K12 Education Administration Deputy Director-General Hsu Li-chuan (許麗娟) said.
Children from low and medium-income families would be allowed to attend semi-public kindergartens for free, while other families would be charged NT$4,500 a month if the child was their first or second, and NT$3,500 if they were further down in birth order, she said.
The government would also relax eligibility criteria for childcare subsidies, Lin said.
Currently, parents of children younger than three can apply for a subsidy of NT$2,500 per month provided one of the parents are unemployed, they have not applied for a public unpaid parental leave subsidy and their income tax rate is less than 20 percent, he said.
These restrictions are to be eliminated starting in August next year, Hsu said.
Moreover, from August 2020, families with children aged three to four would be able to apply for the same subsidy, she said.
The Executive Yuan estimates that the new childcare services and preschools would benefit an additional 525,000 children, while the new childcare subsidies would help 523,000 more.
The policies would require NT$11.3 billion this year and NT$26 billion next year, Hsu said, adding that from 2020 onward the annual budget would be NT$38.3 billion.
“The government will continue to expand the number of public childcare centers and kindergartens. That goal will not change. We will allocate money for that from the annual general budget as well as the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program budget,” Premier William Lai (賴清德) said. “Ultimately, we hope to help parents meet their childcare needs, increase the salaries of childcare professionals and preschool teachers, as well as improve the quality and availability of childcare services.”
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
‘COINCIDENCE’: The former president should keep in mind local and global response to his actions and abide by the law to safeguard national interests, the MAC said The Presidential Office yesterday confirmed that it has received an application from former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to visit China next week and would be discussing his security detail. “As the travel restrictions on former president Ma have expired, we respect his plan to pay respect to his ancestors in China,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) said. “We will review his travel plan and consult concerned agencies to assist him in arranging his security detail.” “We also hope that Ma, as a former commander in chief of Taiwan, acts in a manner that aligns with national interests and does not hurt
‘DIRE’: Taiwan would not engage in ‘dollar diplomacy,’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, after China reportedly offered Honduras up to US$3 billion to establish relations The government yesterday recalled its ambassador to Honduras after the Central American nation sent its foreign minister to China, signaling that it would sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Suspicions concerning ties with Honduras are rife after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday last week wrote on Twitter that her country would pursue diplomatic ties with China. Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled to China on Wednesday “to promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations” on instructions from Castro, Reuters yesterday quoted Honduran presidential spokesman Ivis Alvarado as saying. The government “has decided to immediately recall the ambassador to Honduras
‘NOTHING NEW’: China should not use Tsai Ing-wen’s transits through the US as a pretext to step up aggressive activity in the Taiwan Strait, a Washington official said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to stop over in the US on her way to and from Central America next week, but her administration would not confirm a meeting with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Tsai’s delegation is to leave Taipei on Wednesday next week and stop over in New York City, Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) told a news conference yesterday. Tsai is then to head to Guatemala on Saturday next week for talks with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and to meet with Taiwanese expatriates, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. On April 3, Tsai is scheduled to travel
RSS