President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday reiterated her pledge to help parents raise children up to age six and the Taiwan Early Childhood Education Association said it hoped the policy could begin at the start of next year.
Tsai unveiled the policy in November last year, vowing to double the NT$2,500 monthly child-rearing subsidy and widen coverage of subsidies for children by increasing the cutoff age for eligibility from four to six.
Tsai at the time said that the government would increase the budget for the subsidies to NT$100 billion (US$3.39 billion) a year from NT$60 billion; subsidize families with children up to two years old who are enrolled in daycare centers or looked after by babysitters; and establish more public kindergartens.
Photo: CNA
At a “family day” event at the Presidential Office yesterday, Tsai said that the policy would help “people achieve a healthy balance between work and family.”
The association said that Tsai showed resolve by pressing ahead with the policy.
The number of newborns last year dipped to a nine-year low of 177,767, association president Hung Yi-shen (洪懿聲) said, adding that the number of newborns in the first half of this year was only 85,961 — down by 6,201 from the same period last year.
The nation’s birthrate is in a dire situation, Hung said.
With incomes affected amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the burden of child-rearing has become heftier than ever, he said.
If lawmakers pass the budget for the subsidy increase during a legislative session beginning next month, the monthly grant of NT$5,000 should help resolve the low birthrate, which has become a national security issue, he said.
The application rules and subsidy amounts are the same for parents from across society, which shows the government’s determination to tackle the birthrate problem, Hung said.
Child-oriented policies are the key to boosting young people’s willingness to have children, he said, adding that the government should not let parents or parents-to-be wait too long.
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