One Click to Handle Supporting Documents for Childcare Center and Kindergarten Applications

[Financial News] Starting with the new semester of the 2027 school year, which begins on the 2nd of next month, applicants for childcare center enrollment and kindergarten admission will no longer have to obtain and submit up to 14 documents one by one. The Ministry of Education said on the 15th that it would improve the application service, including by using administrative information received through the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Public MyData for online applications. The aim is to make the application and document-submission process easier.
Six types of supporting documents for childcare centers and 14 types for kindergartens can be checked or submitted online to verify eligibility. These include resident registration certificates and abstracts, as well as family relationship certificates. Child information, which applicants previously had to enter manually each time they applied for enrollment or admission, can also be registered all at once by linking administrative information to retrieve family details.
Child registration and the ‘Save to Favorites’ feature will become available first, on the 28th. Parents can save childcare centers and kindergartens they are interested in to a single list on the Early Childhood Education and Care Integration Portal, then select an institution and apply right away. The feature is intended to reduce the inconvenience of having to search for and apply to childcare centers and kindergartens separately. The portal also lets users see at a glance on a map institutions that match their location and criteria. Users can register at any time, and the application process proceeds in this order: registration, child registration, institution search, and saving institutions to favorites.
Before the application period, parents of children aged 0 to 5 will receive advance information through Welfare Membership, a mobile phone notification service, about application dates for childcare center enrollment and kindergarten admission, as well as how to search for institutions. The Ministry of Education said this will allow parents to receive information in advance that they previously had to look up themselves before applying, helping them prepare what they need without missing the application period.
Kang Min-kyu, director general for early childhood policy at the Ministry of Education, said, “This service improvement focuses on making it easier and more convenient for parents to apply for enrollment or admission in one place, without distinguishing between kindergartens and childcare centers.” Kang Min-kyu added, “We will provide a stable and convenient service that parents, childcare centers, and kindergartens can all see making a difference on the ground.”
This overhaul follows the 2024 consolidation of the separate application portals—I-Sarang for childcare centers and Cheoeum Hakgyoro for kindergartens—into the Early Childhood Education and Care Integration Portal, and focuses on easing the difficulties parents and institutions face during the application process. The Ministry of Education worked with related organizations, including the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Korea Social Security Information Service, and the Korea Education and Research Information Service, and pursued the overhaul based on feedback from parents and people working in the field. It will also step up outreach to help people use the updated services for applications opening on the 2nd of next month. Application dates and instructions for using the service will be shared through the public-facing website and social media in the form of videos, posters, and leaflets. 

[email protected] Kim Man-gi Reporter