Gov`t to expand subsidies for low-income earners in child care

SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- The government said Friday that it will expand
financial support to low-income households sending their children to
kindergartens or childcare centers as part of efforts to boost social welfare and
bolster the overall birth rate.
Households in the nation's lowest 70 percent income bracket will be able to send
their second and following babies aged below 5 to such facilities free of charge
from March, according to officials at the finance ministry and the health
ministry.
The subsidies will be given based on the fees paid at state-run kindergartens and
child care centers. Extra costs incurred in sending children to private
institutes should be picked up by their parents, they added.
Currently, free-of-charge benefits are given to babies belonging to the lowest 60
percent income bracket households.
Such expanded support for child care is aimed at easing the financial burden on
low-income people in educating their children and eventually encouraging
childbirth at a time when the nation's birth rate is steadily declining,
officials said.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
(END)