Gyeonggi Province to Continue Daycare Budget Support Through Year-End... Meal Subsidies Maintained, Payment Rates Adjusted

Gyeonggi Province will continue to provide support to ensure that budgets related to daycare centers are not suspended until the end of the year. The province plans to maintain the meal subsidy rate, while adjusting the support rates for daycare centers and childcare teachers to address funding shortfalls.

Hong Eungwang, spokesperson for Gyeonggi Province, stated in a written briefing on October 6, "The ninth popularly elected provincial administration is working to fully restore budgets that the previous eighth administration failed to allocate." He also remarked, "Given our challenging financial situation, there are practical limitations to restoring all unallocated budgets at once with our limited resources."

According to Gyeonggi Province, in the process of drafting the main budget for 2026, allocations for the 'Infant Standard Curriculum Program Support' and 'Nighttime Extended Daycare Center Operation Support' were missing two months and three months of funding, respectively. In addition, the budgets for daycare center operation support, improvement of daycare center staff treatment, and 0–2-year-old daycare operation support projects are expected to be depleted earlier than planned.

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

Despite these tight fiscal conditions, Gyeonggi Province has decided to maintain per-child meal subsidies, recognizing that they are directly linked to the health of children at daycare centers. The province intends to adjust support rates for daycare centers and childcare teachers to ensure that budget assistance is not interrupted through the end of the year.

Going forward, the province plans to work closely with daycare-related organizations to devise additional support measures for frontline childcare providers.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.