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From 2025, kindergartens and daycare centers, two similar but different institutions, will be integrated into one educational institution.

It is a plan to combine the previously divided management entities into one ministry and invest a large amount of government budget, but kindergarten teachers continue to protest.



This is reporter Kim Kyung-hee.



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From 2025, the infant care and education system, which has been divided into kindergartens and daycare centers for decades, will be integrated into a new institution.

[Lee Joo-ho/Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education: We want to integrate reservations as a means so that anyone can enjoy really good education and care



services without discrimination from the time our children are born.]



, and launch the Reservation Integration Promotion Committee and Promotion Team to begin full-fledged preparations from this year.



Resolving the service gap between the two institutions is key. First of all, we decided to minimize the burden on parents at private kindergartens, just like daycare centers that do not have additional childcare costs.



It is a policy to implement virtually free education for additional kindergarten education expenses of up to 200,000 won on an annual basis from 5 years old in 2024 to 3 years old in 2026.



The cost of improving the treatment of childcare teachers will also be raised to the level of kindergartens, and support for improving old facilities and environments will be strengthened.



To this end, up to 2.6 trillion won will be added to the existing budget of 15 trillion won in 2026 when the reservation integration is completed.



[Bae Geum-joo/Ministry of Health and Welfare Child Care Policy Director: I think children and their parents can have more choices and more convenience.]



The Ministry of Education plans to draft a proposal by the end of the year regarding the reform of the teacher qualifications and education system, which are the most sensitive issues in integration discussions. He avoided an immediate answer, saying he would arrange it.



However, opposition protests by kindergarten teachers who are concerned about the downward leveling of early childhood education are already continuing, and it is pointed out that the success or failure of the integration depends on how smoothly the interests of the education and childcare fields are coordinated.



(Video coverage: Park Young-il · Kim Se-kyung, video editing: Kim Jong-mi)