Ministry expanding preschools

PUBLIC CARE: The education ministry is investing NT$500 million this year to increase the availability of preschools to alleviate the burden on parents with young children

• By Rachel Lin and Shelley Shan / Staff reporters

• • Add TT as Preferred Source

  • 

  • 

  • 

The Ministry of Education is allocating more than NT$500 million (US$15.58 million) this year to expand public preschool capacity amid growing demand for affordable childcare among dual-income families.

The measure is part of government efforts to alleviate the burden of parents with young children and boost the nation’s birthrate.

As of last month, Taiwan’s population had declined for 33 consecutive months, official statistics showed.

Caregivers lead children to a nonprofit kindergarten in Yunlin County on Wednesday last week.

Photo: Lee Wen-te, Taipei Times

In the past, kindergartens in Taiwan accepted only children aged three or older. After the government changed the preschool system by integrating kindergartens and daycare centers in 2012, children can attend preschools from age two until they start elementary school.

However, a preschool must have a dedicated class for two-year-olds to enroll children of that age.

The Early Childhood Education and Care Act (幼兒教育及照顧法) stipulates that each preschool class for children aged two to under three may enroll no more than 16 children.

Classes with eight or fewer children must have at least one childcare and education services personnel, while those with nine or more must have at least two.

The law also stipulates that two-year-olds should not be placed in the same class as those in other age groups.

The curriculum should focus on daily care, developing self-care skills, and learning through play and exploration, while reading, writing and arithmetic instruction aimed at achieving proficiency is prohibited.

The enrollment of two-year-olds in preschool classes rose from 14.7 percent in 2016 to 64.1 percent last year, ministry data showed.

The ministry has established 600 public and quasi-public preschool classes for two-year-olds, three times its original target of adding 200 classes from 2024 to this year.

Since 2017, the government has subsidized more than 4,100 preschool classes nationwide, while the number of preschool teachers has reached 270,000, the education ministry said.

The ministry added that it is investing more than NT$500 million to increase the availability of preschools and preschool classes this year.

Wang Hui-chiu (王慧秋), a section chief of the ministry’s K-12 Education Administration, said that local governments are in charge of assessing and planning how to increase the number of preschools or preschool classes based on the number of children and teachers in each district, as well as actual enrollment, while the ministry offers subsidies to fund the increases.

“We are not asking all preschools to offer a dedicated class for two-year-olds or change the classes for children aged three to five to accommodate them. Local governments should make adjustments based on parents’ requests and other factors and consider offering classes for two-year-olds at elementary schools that have childcare facilities first,” Wang said.

Monthly fees at public preschools are capped at NT$1,000 for the first child, with second children and subsequent siblings attending for free.

At nonprofit preschools, the monthly cap is NT$2,000 for the first child, NT$1,000 for the second and free for subsequent children.

At quasi-public preschools, the caps are NT$3,000, NT$2,000 and NT$1,000 respectively, while children from low- and lower-middle-income families are exempt from fees.

Eligible families whose children do not attend public or quasi-public preschools can instead receive monthly childcare subsidies of NT$5,000 for the first child, NT$6,000 for the second and NT$7,000 for subsequent children.

Public preschools also offer extended care on weekdays and additional childcare services during winter and summer vacations, with 95 percent currently offering extended care.

Since 2021, the government has also encouraged government agencies and state-owned enterprises to set up childcare facilities for employees, with about 166 such facilities established as of this year.