Govt. Favors Free Childcare Education on a Selective Basis
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Govt. Favors Free Childcare Education on a Selective Basis
Legislative branch wants to provide free childcare education, while government opposes it due to financial reasons

31(Mon), Dec, 2012

The Health and Welfare Committee of the National Assembly approved a plan to provide free childcare education to children under two years old by raising the education budget by 2 trillion won. But Minister Rim Che-min of the Ministry of Health and Welfare opposed the plan since the National Assembly cannot increase government budgets without approval by the government. The committee¡¯s budget still has to get the approvals of the Budget Settlement Special Committee and the entire floor of parliament. The committee¡¯s action would be invalid unless it is approved by the government. But if Minister Rim bows to the political pressure, then the repeat of a bad dream of providing free education without adequate financial resources will be realized.
Back in September, Minister Rim unveiled the reform plan of the welfare support system, which will limit welfare support to 70 percent for the poorer families and 30 percent for those of slightly higher means, while the richer families will have to pay up 20 percent of the welfare fund, up from 10 percent, which annulled the free welfare education program a year after its implementation. The minister said he was personally sorry for those who have to pay part of the welfare money themselves. ¡°I take full responsibility for the measure,¡± Rim said.
Rim said he will take all the blame, but it is really the National Assembly who should be held responsible since it pushed for free education last year without support measures, causing all kinds of confusion in the process.
The local autonomous organizations did not go along because they had no financial resources with which to pay for it, which is why Minister Rim wanted to pay for only those children from families in the lowest 70 percent to make the program go as planned without all kinds of noises of disharmony.
The political sector uniformly opposed the reformed plan with both ruling and opposition camps joining together in voicing their disapproval. Presidential candidates Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in and former candidate Ahn Cheol-soo all said they couldn¡¯t accept the reform plan. 
The members of the health and welfare committee shouldered the tough work to increase the welfare budget by 2 trillion won and rich people reaped the benefits.
Minister Rim is in a position to lead the moves geared toward increasing the welfare budget and he could accept the increase in the budget by the parliamentary committee without fanfare. But the minister is a position to object to the increase because he knows the government doesn¡¯t have the financial resources to pay for the increase after a year¡¯s implementation of free childcare education.
All 24 ward chiefs objected to the free education plan, among them 19 Democrats, making it abundantly clear that the parliamentary moves to restart the entirely free childcare education program would run into a great wall of opposition.
Minister Bahk Jae-wan of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said he will fight the plan, while Minister Rim will also resist the plan. Taxpayers will now fight between the indiscriminant free welfare plan and the sound health of the government treasury. 
   
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