New preschool policy draws the ire of unions - Taipei Times

• By Rachel Lin and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

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A policy starting on Sept. 1 to extend public preschool after-school care to three hours would exacerbate labor shortages and force educators into involuntary overtime, teachers' unions said yesterday.

Public preschool classes usually end at 4pm, which is inconvenient for dual-income families, prompting the Ministry of Education to provide subsidies for two hours of extended care until 6pm.

However, 6pm is still too early for many parents to pick up their children, the ministry said.

Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Education Department

After deducting the fees paid by parents, the government's new policy would subsidize hourly and overtime pay shortfalls by up to NT$400 per hour for the first two hours and up to NT$500 for the third hour.

The ministry would also offer preschools up to NT$850,000 for every additional caretaker hired.

While the policy addresses the childcare needs of families, evening working hours make it difficult to find staff, and long-term staffing shortages are not easily solved with subsidies, Formosa Education Union Education Policy Think Tank executive director Yang Yi-fei (楊逸飛) said.

Preschools should be allowed to decline after-hours care services if they are unable to find legal and suitable personnel to prevent the onus landing on their staff members, Yang said.

Formosa Education Union Youth Education Strategy Center member Yang Lu-chieh (楊麓潔) said that educators are already tasked with teaching and caring for children during the day, and sometimes are also saddled with administrative work and the responsibility of communicating with parents.

On top of their duties, they already have to deal with additional time on the job for after-hours care, bringing their total daily work time to 11 hours or more, Yang said.

The policy only raises the subsidy amount starting on the third hour of after-hours care services, Yang said, adding that additional subsidies should not become a reason to legitimize over-long work hours.

Tainan Education Union deputy chairperson Chen Yun-ju (陳韻如) said that preschools would not deny requests to help take care of children after hours for families in need, but the government should not take their benevolent actions as an excuse to extend the time children spend at daycare facilities.

The government should find ways to reduce parents' work hours, address non-family-friendly jobs and the issues of jobs preventing parents from spending more time with their children, Chen said.

The unions asked that hourly subsidies for after-hours care be increased, systems be established to assess the need for such services, regulations be implemented so staff do not have to work overtime, daycare facilities have the option not to provide services if they are unable to find staff and measures be implemented to foster supplementary personnel sourcing.

Additional reporting by CNA