One third of total private centers close in protest against subsidy freeze


On early Monday morning, several women gathered in front of a daycare center in an apartment complex in southern Seoul, talking to themselves.

They were reading the notice on the bulletin about a week-long “closure” of the center. It said the centers are protesting the government’s freeze of subsidies to daycare centers and that the closure is needed to enhance the welfare of the teachers, which directly affects the children.

“Some teachers showed up and took care of the children as an emergency measure. But they said on Wednesday all daycare centers in the area will be closed and that we will have to come up with a Plan B,” a mother said. The others, who are also working moms, all complained that they may have to take a day off from work to look after their children.

“I sympathize with the teachers’ burden, but I cannot help but think the sudden closure is selfish. Working parents have no options,” another mother said.

This center is among 5,000 daycare centers that have staged a strike against the government’s recent freezing of subsidies for childcare centers. The participants account for one-third of the total private daycare centers in the country.

Most of the centers, however, did not close on Monday due to the outcry from parents, who had not been informed of the class action in advance. Those in Gwangju, Daejeon, Chungcheong and North Jeolla Province refused to join. Those in Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon decided to place several teachers on duty Monday and Tuesday, but to have a full strike on Wednesday.

An association of private daycare centers urged the government to raise subsidies for childcare institutions.

“The Ministry of Health and Welfare has recently announced a set of plans to support childcare fees for all children under five by 2013. The price has been fixed at up to 394,000 won ($340) a month. But to finance the fee, the state has decided to freeze its support for daycare centers,” the group said in a statement.

“More children will enroll in our facilities because of the government support, but the institutions will not be able to hire more teachers because of the budget restraints. It means the welfare of teachers will go down,” it said.

Teachers at daycare centers said their strike is necessary.

“We look after children from 8 a.m. till 7:30 p.m., sometimes beyond that time for parents who work late. We also have to clean up the mess and do administrative chores,” a teacher with four years of experience said.

“To many people, lunch is break time, but to us, it’s stress chasing kids all over. We need improvements to the current system. We hope the matter can be settled quickly because we are, too, worried about the children,” she said.

“We are discussing ways to raise the teachers and management fee,” said Chun Man-bok, an official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

“But what teachers are doing is harmful to society, holding children hostage to gain an advantageous place in the negotiation. That is wrong. We may have to consider shutting down the facilities that pursue the closure for a long period of time.”

According to the administration, there are about 15,000 private daycare centers in the country looking after more than 750,000 children. The government can hand down a two-month business suspension or substantial fine on childrearing facilities that do not run more than 12 hours a day for six days a week, according to the law.

By Bae Ji-sook

(baejisook@heraldcorp.com)