2015-01-21
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Hosted by the Social Affairs Bureau, the policy statement conference in which the "End-to-end Daycare Subsidy Program” was announced was held at Taichung City Child Welfare Services Center in Shalu District on January 20, 2015. Manyparents took their babies there, and the organizers arranged some exciting games, including “balloon umbrellas,” to entertain those kids. Mayor Lin also squatted down to greet and chat with them and gave them small gifts, making the atmosphere warm and lively.
"When I see kids, I see the future and I see hope," said Mayor Lin. “The tendency to have fewer children is a national security issue. To solve the crisis, the central and local governments must work together to set up a cost-effective system to support parents in their childbearing and childrearing process. That is why after detailed research, my team at the city government has launched this ‘End-to-end Daycare Subsidy Program.’ The ‘end-to-end’ means to take care of our kids from their birth until 6 years old. This programwill create a win-win-win situation for parents, the early childhood education sector, and nannies.”
“The Ministry of Education has since 2011 school year launched the tuition-free education program for 5-year-old kids attending public kindergartens and subsidizes NT$30,000 every yearto a 5-year-old child attending a private kindergarten. I have pushed this policy even further to cover any 2-4 year-old kid,” stressed Mayor Lin.
Moreover, a 0-2 year-old kid attending a daycare center is subsidized of NT$3000 to NT$5000 per monthby thecentral government and NT$2000 to NT$3000 per month by the city government. “I now announce to expand the subsidy policy to cover 3 year-old kids. In other words, a kid aged between 2 and 3 attending a daycare center will be subsidized of NT$2000 to NT$3000 per month bythe city government in mid-2015,” added Mayor Lin.
The daycare service providers (nannies) who take care of 0-2 year-old kids at home are currently subsidized of NT$3000 to NT$5000 per kid per monthby thecentral government and NT$2000 to NT$3000 per kid per month by the city government.“I will expand the subsidy to cover 6-year-old kids. In other words, a kid aged between 2 and 6 taken care of by a professional nanny will be subsidized of NT$2000 to NT$3000 per month bythe city government in the future,” said Mayor Lin.
“A 0-2-year-old kid from a disadvantaged family is subsidized of childcare allowance at NT$2500 to NT$5000 per month by the central government. However, kids aged 2 to 5 are caught in the window period. I have thus considered granting a 0-6 year-old kid with NT$3000 per month to bridge the gap, so that0-6 year-old kids from disadvantaged families can be well taken care of. This is what I call ‘End-to-end Daycare Subsidy Program,” Mayor Lin said.
Mayor Lin stressed, “The End-to-end Daycare Subsidy Program, the first of its kind in Taiwan, is a three-track policy, subsidizing three parties in the main. The first party is such institutions as nursery schools and daycare centers. The second party is nannies who offer childcare service at their own home, and this End-to-end Daycare Subsidy Program will create jobs for them. The third party is the low-and-middle-income families who will be granted with childcare allowance. The program is expected to hit the road on July 1, 2015 at the soonest. It needs an additional budget of NT$1.13 billion a year and will be able to benefit 43000 children.”
Mayor Lin also stressed “During my election campaigning, I insisted on partial subsidy because a complete subsidy costs too much money. Such huge burden will make the program unsustainable. Besides, when allowance is distributed to every family, you lose control onhow parents spend the money. In my humble opinion, I should make good use of every penny of the tax money paid by our citizens. Therefore, I decide to set up a system to create a win-win-win situation for parents, the early childhood education sector, and nannies. We aim to reduce the burden on parents, to guide and improve the early childhood education sector, and to create jobs for nannies. In the end, the biggest beneficiaries will be our children.”
Mayor Lin also told the early childhood education sector NOT to worry about the possibility that the government would set up too many public-funded childcare institutes. “It is a difficult task to set up ‘too’ many public-funded childcare institutes. The substitution effect will never happen on the market. We simply want to provide appropriate resources for the Daycare Subsidy Program. We will stick to the ‘people-oriented’ principle and keep in mind your needs as a top priority,” added Mayor Lin.
unit:綜合企劃科
