Sanmin Daycare Center (三民託嬰中心), the first public daycare in Taichung’s coastal districts opened Friday in the city’s Wuci District (梧棲).
Photo: CNA
The new daycare center is the city’s 34th public daycare, and the first within its coastal area, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said, adding that tuition at the center is only NT$1,500 per month.
Lu said that when she first took office there were only five public daycares across the city’s 29 districts, and today there are 34 – an increase of nearly five times.
“We aim to make Taichung a paradise for those who are willing to raise children,” she said.
Fees at the city’s public daycare centers are NT$7,000 per month, but NT$5,500 of that is subsidized by the government, so families need only pay NT$1,500 per month, she said.
The new daycare is part of a larger social-welfare center that also includes facilities for older adults and the disabled, she said.
“Taichung’s public daycare tuition is the lowest in the country, and the city’s one-time maternity benefit payment was doubled in recent years from NT$10,000 to NT$20,000,” Taichung Social Affairs Bureau Director Liao Ching-chih (廖靜芝) said.
“We also have plans to open public daycares in Sinshe (新社), Wurih (烏日), Situn (西屯), Longjing (龍井) and Waipu (外埔) districts.”
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