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At least 47,000 families are expected to benefit from the government's childcare subsidization, which begins today.
Families will receive government subsidies of NT$3,000 or NT$5,000 a month, to send children under the age of two to licensed childcare centers, an interior ministry official said yesterday.
Chien Hui-chuan, MOI director of child welfare, said a low-income family without a breadearner will get NT$5,000 for a two-year-old to attend a childcare center.
Those families with one or both parents working and whose annual income is below NT$1.5 million are entitled to the NT$3,000 monthly subsidy, Chien said.
"We are glad our childcare subsidization program will be getting under way," Chien said, but cautioned there is a serious shortage of qualified caregivers.
She estimated the number of caregivers at 12,000.
Each caregiver is expected to tend to two children, Chien said. "In other words," she added, "we need altogether 23,500 caregivers."
Moreover, Chien went on, there are no childcare centers in remote places.
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To make the program successful, Chien said, more qualified caregivers are needed. "And it's going to take quite some time," she added.
- reprinted from The China Post