<Anchor>



Children with disabilities are eligible for compulsory education from the age of 3 and can go to kindergarten early.

However, it is not easy for special education kindergartens to find vacancies and eventually find a daycare center dedicated to taking care of children with disabilities.



Reporter Jeong Da-eun.



<Reporter>



Ahn, who has a daughter with a brain lesion disorder.



The difficulties began when she first sent her child to kindergarten.



The operating hours of the kindergarten for special classes allocated by the government along with disability registration were too short.



[Mr. Ahn/Parent of a child with a disability: Kindergarten ends at 9:00 am, and ends at 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm.

Because I was under the age of 6, I was unable to receive assistance with activities.]



Children with disabilities are subject to compulsory education from the age of 3, so they can attend kindergarten.



However, due to insufficient seats and short childcare hours, many parents seek daycare centers that can provide childcare for children with disabilities.



The problem is that the government support for daycare centers managed by the Ministry of Welfare is insufficient compared to kindergartens managed by the Ministry of Education.



It is a structure in which daycare centers and parents bear more of the cost.



[Park Hyun-joo/Director of Integrated Daycare Center for Children with Disabilities: There are definitely things that make and use teaching aids for children with disabilities.

Materials such as textbooks and teaching materials are not supported (the government).

There are a lot of things I bought with my own money as a teacher.]



27% of daycare centers do not have special teachers who are legally required to have them.



[Park Hyeon-joo/Director of an integrated daycare center for children with disabilities: We also want to hire special teachers for infants.

Because the various welfare aspects are too poor, I am not selected.]



[Park Chang-hyeon / Head of Future Education Research Team, Childcare Policy Research Institute: Because he belongs to a daycare center (compared to kindergarten), he is in a policy blind spot (compared to kindergarten), Any support for compulsory education (for compulsory education) and these parts are inevitable (it is unfair)]



Experts advise that the education environment for children with disabilities should be reorganized by integrating daycare centers and kindergarten courses.



(Video editing: Yumira, VJ: Oh Se-gwan, Shin So-young)