Families with 3-Year-Olds in Seoul to Receive Up to 110,000 Won per Month

[Financial News] Three-year-old children in Seoul will receive up to 110,000 won per month in education and childcare support starting in October. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will begin providing the support five months ahead of the Ministry of Education’s phased plan for free education and childcare.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said on the 14th that it had drawn up a supplementary budget to provide education and childcare support from October through December to 34,982 three-year-olds attending public and private kindergartens and daycare centers in Seoul.
The amount varies by type of institution. Private kindergartens will receive 110,000 won per month for curriculum fees. Daycare centers will receive 70,000 won for other necessary expenses, while public kindergartens will receive 20,000 won for after-school program fees. The beneficiaries include 12,867 children at private kindergartens, 18,496 at daycare centers, and 3,619 at public kindergartens.
Parents will only have to pay the difference in education costs after the education office’s support is deducted. SMOE selected different support categories for each type of institution so that the measure could be linked to the Ministry of Education’s phased plan for free education and childcare.
The measure is intended to address the disparity in the timing of support for three-year-olds, who had not received assistance unlike four- and five-year-olds. Although three-year-olds also follow the same Nuri Curriculum at kindergartens and daycare centers, they had previously been excluded from free education and childcare fee support.
Under its phased plan for free education and childcare, the Ministry of Education plans to complete free education and childcare for children aged three to five starting in March 2027. SMOE will begin supporting three-year-olds this October, ahead of that schedule.
SMOE also plans to conduct on-site guidance and inspections to prevent kindergartens and daycare centers from raising fees charged to parents in response to the expanded subsidies. The goal is to ensure transparency in budget execution so that the funds can be used to reduce parents’ financial burden.
The support will be implemented temporarily from October through December this year. SMOE plans to work to secure funding in the 2027 main budget so that the support can continue in January and February next year.
Geun-sik Chung, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "This proactive support will strengthen public responsibility for early-childhood education and establish it as the starting point of basic education." He added, "We will do our utmost to create an educational environment where families can raise their children with confidence and without financial burdens. "

[email protected] Man-gi Kim Reporter