The Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday unveiled its plan to fully subsidize the kindergarten tuition of some of the nation’s five-year-old children.
Under the subsidy program, five-year-olds living in the nation’s Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu and Aboriginal townships whose annual household income does not exceed NT$1.1 million (US$34,300) are eligible for the tuition break if they choose to attend public kindergarten.
Those who choose to attend private kindergartens that are on the ministry’s list of cooperative schools will receive a NT$30,000 tuition subsidy every year.
Additionally, children from families with an annual income under NT$700,000 will receive other schooling-related stipends ranging between NT$10,000 and NT$30,000 every year, the ministry said.
The benefit will be introduced for the next school year that begins next month, said director of the ministry’s Department of Elementary Education Yang Chang-yu (楊昌裕), adding that only children with Taiwanese nationality can enjoy the subsidy.
The ministry plans to have the benefit extended to all five-year-olds in the nation who have an annual household income under NT$1.1 million for the 2011-2012 academic year, Yang said.
While the ministry hopes the tuition break will apply to every five-year-old child in the nation in the future, Yang said no clear timetable has been proposed because of concerns over government finances.
Taiwanese children usually begin attending elementary school at the age of six.
The ministry’s information showed that children going to public kindergarten usually have to pay NT$14,000 in tuition every year and about NT$10,000 in extra fees every semester. For those who go to private kindergarten, the total charge could reach NT$50,000 to NT$70,000 per year, the information showed.
Yang said about 53 percent of the nation’s five-year-olds, or 110,000 kids, are expected to benefit from the plan in the next school year and the figure may rise to about 75 percent, or 154,500, in the next school year.
The tuition break is expected to cost the government NT$4.8 billion for the next academic year and NT$6 billion for the 2011-2012 academic year, he added.
Minister of Education Wu Ching-chi (吳清基) said the scheme was proposed to halt the nation’s declining birth rate and to lessen the financial burden of young parents.
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