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Fundamental measures needed to prevent fiasco in childrearing support

Fundamental measures needed to prevent fiasco in childrearing support

Posted January. 26, 2016 07:57,   

Updated January. 26, 2016 08:09

한국어

As President Park Geun-hye instructed the government to provide 300 billion won (251 million US dollars) in reserve funds to metropolitan and provincial office of education, a breakthrough has been found in the looming fiasco in the state childrearing assistance program. As a result, the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education decided to set aside one year’s budget to support the Nuri program for kindergarteners, while the Seoul Metropolitan City Council and the Gyeonggi Provincial Council also agreed to cooperate. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education also agreed on early implementation of 6.25 billion won (5.22 million US dollars) for two months, including expenses needed to increase compensation for teachers at private kindergartens, to solve the most pressing issues. The major fiasco in childrearing assistance triggered by dispute over budget for the Nuri program is seemingly being addressed through a stopgap measure for now.

Most pressing problems in the Nuri program for kindergartens in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Gwanju regions have been solved, but the immediate problem now is the Nuri program for daycare centers for which expenses should be settled next month. President Park said the government will provide reserve funds preferentially to metropolitan and provincial offices of education that already set aside budget for the Nuri program, saying, “The government will make sure that those who follow principle will benefit,” but this is not the normal way of budgetary implementation. It is not appropriate to funnel reserve funds, which should be spent on recovery of natural disasters and other emergency matters, to supporting childrearing support programs.

Also in last year, the government and metropolitan and provincial offices of education almost faced a major debacle in the childrearing assistance program due to budgetary issues with the Nuri program. They managed to narrowly prevent a crisis from happening as metropolitan and provincial offices of educations issued local bonds, while the central government provided assistance to repay interest for the bonds. The government increased subsidies for provincial education budget for this year by 1.8 trillion won (1.5 billion dollars) and instructed metropolitan and provincial governments to spend funds for the Nuri program as priority. However, metropolitan and provincial offices of education set aside the subsidies to free school meals and innovation schools as their priority, and caused an imminent crisis in the childrearing assistance program, claiming that the Fundamental measures needed to prevent fiasco in childrearing support

As President Park Geun-hye instructed the government to provide 300 billion won (251 million US dollars) in reserve funds to metropolitan and provincial office of education, a breakthrough has been found in the looming fiasco in the state childrearing assistance program. As a result, the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education decided to set aside one year’s budget to support the Nuri program for kindergarteners, while the Seoul Metropolitan City Council and the Gyeonggi Provincial Council also agreed to cooperate. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education also agreed on early implementation of 6.25 billion won (5.22 million US dollars) for two months, including expenses needed to increase compensation for teachers at private kindergartens, to solve the most pressing issues. The major fiasco in childrearing assistance triggered by dispute over budget for the Nuri program is seemingly being addressed through a stopgap measure for now.

Most pressing problems in the Nuri program for kindergartens in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Gwanju regions have been solved, but the immediate problem now is the Nuri program for daycare centers for which expenses should be settled next month. President Park said the government will provide reserve funds preferentially to metropolitan and provincial offices of education that already set aside budget for the Nuri program, saying, “The government will make sure that those who follow principle will benefit,” but this is not the normal way of budgetary implementation. It is not appropriate to funnel reserve funds, which should be spent on recovery of natural disasters and other emergency matters, to supporting childrearing support programs.

Also in last year, the government and metropolitan and provincial offices of education almost faced a major debacle in the childrearing assistance program due to budgetary issues with the Nuri program. They managed to narrowly prevent a crisis from happening as metropolitan and provincial offices of educations issued local bonds, while the central government provided assistance to repay interest for the bonds. The government increased subsidies for provincial education budget for this year by 1.8 trillion won (1.5 billion dollars) and instructed metropolitan and provincial governments to spend funds for the Nuri program as priority. However, metropolitan and provincial offices of education set aside the subsidies to free school meals and innovation schools as their priority, and caused an imminent crisis in the childrearing assistance program, claiming that the Nuri program is “the central government’s responsibility.”

Under the act on provincial education budget subsidies, the allocation of budget for the Nuri program is an obligation of educational superintendents, and hence failure to earmark budget is apparently their dereliction of duty. The Education Ministry claims its analysis of budgets for seven educational offices revealed that educational offices can sufficiently set aside budgets for Nuri if they adjust amounts of expenditures. Since the seven regions are all under the supervision of left-leaning educational superintendents, it is suspected that their struggle over budget might have been politically motivated. ”It remains to be seen whether it will actually happen in that President Park said the central government will inject subsidies into a specific purpose such as the Nuri program even by revising relevant laws,

The fundamental cause of a debacle in the childrearing assistance program lies in political circle that made reckless pledges to provide welfare support without properly considering budgetary constraints as they only sought to garner votes, and President Park is at the center of this controversy. The central government and metropolitan and provincial offices of education should stop the "game of chicken" by taking children and parents as hostages, and should present a fundamental solution to ensure that the budgetary debacle in the Nuri program budget does not repeat again. If the government cannot secure the necessary budget, it should consider reducing assistance for free childrearing.

Nuri program is “the central government’s responsibility.”

Under the act on provincial education budget subsidies, the allocation of budget for the Nuri program is an obligation of educational superintendents, and hence failure to earmark budget is apparently their dereliction of duty. The Education Ministry claims its analysis of budgets for seven educational offices revealed that educational offices can sufficiently set aside budgets for Nuri if they adjust amounts of expenditures. Since the seven regions are all under the supervision of left-leaning educational superintendents, it is suspected that their struggle over budget might have been politically motivated. ”It remains to be seen whether it will actually happen in that President Park said the central government will inject subsidies into a specific purpose such as the Nuri program even by revising relevant laws,

The fundamental cause of a debacle in the childrearing assistance program lies in political circle that made reckless pledges to provide welfare support without properly considering budgetary constraints as they only sought to garner votes, and President Park is at the center of this controversy. The central government and metropolitan and provincial offices of education should stop the "game of chicken" by taking children and parents as hostages, and should present a fundamental solution to ensure that the budgetary debacle in the Nuri program budget does not repeat again. If the government cannot secure the necessary budget, it should consider reducing assistance for free childrearing.



정성희기자 shchung@donga.com