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Classes for kids of part-time workers

Full-time homemakers and part-time employees will be allowed to send their children to public kindergarten or childcare centers on a part-time basis during the latter half of the year, the government said yesterday.

There are currently high numbers of children of full-time employees and double-income earners at government and state-run kindergarten or childcare centers.

“We will open part-time classes for children of part-time employees and full-time homemakers, and they will be operated separately from other full-time classes,” said an official of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Up to 4,000 won ($3.4) in fees will be levied for each hour of the part-time childcare classes, the official said, recommending users of the part-time classes apply for childcare allowances.

Early this year, the government unveiled plans to provide subsidies to all children aged between 3 and 4 starting next year to help reduce childcare burden.

Under the plan, children between the ages of 3 and 4 are eligible for 220,000 won per month next year, and the amount will surge to 240,000 won per child in 2014 and 300,000 won by 2016.

Korea’s birthrate, or the average number of children born to each woman in her lifetime, is 1.23, compared to the 1.71 average for members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Yonhap