Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday announced the opening of a nonprofit preschool at Taibei Senior High School in Shilin District (士林), marking the first cooperation between the city government and a private school to set up a preschool on campus.
The preschool was the product of collaboration between Taibei Senior High, which provided the space; the Taipei Department of Education, which provided the facilities according to the Facility Standards for Preschools and Their Branch Campuses; and the 3&3 Life Education Foundation, which was commissioned to operate the preschool, Ko said.
The case symbolizes a breakthrough in the city government’s aim to repurpose unused space in schools, he said.
Photo: CNA
“[The nation’s] low birthrate is a problem that needs to be solved step by step,” Ko said.
Increasing the childbirth subsidy alone will not solve the problem, because young people will still be unwilling to have children if they lack help to raise them and provide them with a good education, he said.
Public and nonprofit preschools account for about 44 percent of all preschools in the city, so there is still room to raise that figure to at least 70 percent, and the city government is willing to cooperate with private schools to establish preschools or provide social welfare services, he said.
There are 149 public preschools and 38 nonprofit preschools in the city, and the average tuition is about NT$2,500 per month for public preschools, NT$3,500 for nonprofit preschools and NT$4,500 for semi-public preschools, with the cost differentials being subsidized by the city government and paid directly to preschools. These positions are filled through lotteries.
For those who do not make it to these schools, the city gives parents a subsidy of NT$13,660 per semester to enrol in private preschools, Ko said.
After the event, Ko was asked about other city government policies, such as the Department of Urban Development’s plan to ease restrictions on shops and restaurants in the Shida Commercial District (師大商圈) by legalizing them if the street is more than 5m wide and 50 percent of the residential households in the same block agree.
Ko said that he holds the same attitude in dealing with this case and other cases of illegal land use, which is that regulations should be executable.
He added that many laws are unrealistic and should be examined and solved in a practical way.
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