As many as 25,000 children may be in danger every day as around 40 percent of government-run childcare centers are unlicensed and located in potentially unsafe places, the Jing-chuan Child Safety Foundation said yesterday.
“Government officials always say that they want to take care of the disadvantaged and they come up with free school lunch programs — but I don't understand why they fail to give our children a safe place to stay,” foundation executive director Lin Yue-chin (林月琴) told a press conference.
According to figures released by the Ministry of the Interior, there were 311 public-run childcare centers across the country caring for more than 63,000 children as of the end of last year.
However, upon closer examination, the foundation found that as many as 40 percent of the centers were unlicensed.
“Look at these pictures, wouldn't you be worried if your child was at one of these centers?” Hsu Ya-jen (許雅荏), a director at the foundation, said while holding up pictures.
One childcare center was located under a spectator deck in a sports stadium, while others are in temples or community centers.
Although these temporary childcare centers are run by government authorities, most of them are unlicensed.
“About 20 percent of parents told us in a survey that they choose to put their children in private childcare centers out of safety concerns, while 24 percent chose to entrust their children with public childcare centers because they are cheaper,” Lin said.
“This shows that parents distrust public childcare centers. When they are able to afford it, they choose private childcare centers over public ones,” Lin said, adding that economically disadvantaged families should not have to jeopardize their children’s safety.
On average, parents pay about NT$1,000 (US$31) per month for public childcare centers in rural areas, with the price rising to around NT$9,000 per month in cities.
However, private childcare centers charge around NT$10,000 per month in rural areas and anything up to NT$40,000 in Taipei City, Lin said.
“We urge the government to thoroughly check all childcare centers and make sure that each one of them strictly follows the relevant regulations to ensure the safety of all children at such centers,” she said.
In response, the ministry's Child Welfare Bureau director-general Chang Hsiu-yuan (張秀鴛) said the government was working to make sure all childcare centers were up to standard.
“Some childcare centers are located in community centers because we were eager to find a place for childcare centers when rapid industrialization took place decades ago,” Chang said.
“The Child Welfare Bureau as well as regulations [on childcare centers] have only been in place for about 10 years — we work hard to check every childcare center each year, but we should allow them time to improve,” Chang said.
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