Politics can play its role, but not in the sector of welfare for child care. The controversy regarding the government support for the Nuri Program is a hot topic in Korea, where all mothers are eager about their child’s education. Despite such keenness on this issue, the central government and the regional education offices have been playing a chicken game that must come to an end. The game must stop, and society is in need of revision with respect to the education grant system.
Parents with young children had to hold onto their nerves when the regional offices displayed their disagreement toward the central government regarding the implementation of the Nuri Program (the initiative to private financial support for day care programs designed by the Park Geun Hye administration). The clash occurred between the two parties when the regional education offices claimed that the central government did not draw up a specific budget for the Nuri Program, while the central government claimed that the expense was included in the budget for education as a whole.
While the clash continued to exist between the central government and the regional education offices, the education offices of Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gwangju, and South Jeolla did not provide money to kindergartens and day care centers until the deadline they were liable for. With the Nuri Program, the fees for daycare centers decreased by a maximum of 290,000 won for a student in a private institute and 110,000 won in a public institute. However, with a handful of education offices refusing to provide financial aid for the Nuri Program, many mothers are exposed to carrying heavier burdens.
The conflict between central government and regional education offices occurred recently, when the responsibility of the Nuri Program transferred from the central government to the regional offices last year. Subsidies for daycare programs were previously financed from national taxes, local taxes, and grants for regional education offices provided by the Ministry of Education (MOE) however, since the central government support was suspended last year, a handful of regional education offices curtailed the budget for the Nuri Program and refused to maintain it.
Claims for financial constraint by the regional offices are recognized, and yet what is imperative is not calling for an end to the program, which numerous mothers are in need of, but for an elimination of other inefficient sectors. Currently, the free meal project, which in the past was offered only to children from low-in come families but is now offered to all children regardless of their financial backgrounds, is the sector casting the most burdens on public education finance. Even a child from an extraordinarily rich family is provided with a free meal; the government could cut that expense and draw on that money to replenish the Nuri Program.
Some of the regional education offices insist the central government raise the budget for the Nuri Program, and yet that is nonsensical considering the decline in the number of students expected in the following years. The low fertility rate of Korea is expected to decrease student population by a third in 2020, while the subsidies are estimated to increase by three times. Raising the budget is definitely not the answer to this issue.
The shortages in education finance claimed by the regional education offices is understandable, but do not provide reasonable grounds to cut support for the Nuri Program. A tough environment for mothers of young children means the continuance of low fertility rates and ill demographics— supporting mothers must be a top priority. The only way to raise the current-state fertility rate of 1.21 to 2.1—the fertility rate required to maintain the population of a country—is to make sure all mothers feel ensured about having children.