Mayoral candidates urged to set up more kindergartens

Liu Chin-hsu, chairman of the NTA, said that his association will collect proposals from all the relevant sectors concerning the childhood education within one month, and will then send them to the campaign headquarters of all the candidates of both the ruling and opposition parties.

Liu said the the association won't force the candidates to accept the proposals, but will publicize whether the candidates accept or not, so that the nation's around 300,000 teachers can better understand the stances of the candidates.

Government-run kindergartens and childcare centers are badly needed in the five municipalities, because young couples in the municipal cities are mostly salary earners and don't live with their parents. Accordingly, they badly need excellent childcare environment if the government wants to encourage them to have babies, according to Liu.

At the moment, the charges collected by private kindergartens and childcare centers are three to four times those demanded by government-run ones. Accordingly, if the local governments fail to set up more kindergartens and childcare centers, young couples will remain reluctant to give bith to babies.

Liu said that the governments of the five municipalities have to spend only NT$825 million to normalize pre-school education of children.

In related news, the growing low birth rate has led to a steady decrease in the number of students at elementary schools. This, in turn, has made it increasingly difficult for teachers to find a job at elementary schools, forcing them to study at department of early childhood education to secure a job at the government-run kindergartens and childcare centers.

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