Osan Establishes Public Daycare Center 'Municipal The Sharp Osan Central Daycare'

[Suwon Ilbo=Correspondent Seo Dong-young] Osan City announced on the 8th that it has established a public daycare center called 'Municipal The Sharp Osan Central Daycare' in The Sharp Osan Central Apartments in Sucheong-dong and has begun recruiting children.

Municipal The Sharp Osan Central Daycare is the second public daycare center to open following the amendment to the Infant and Childcare Act (December 24, 2018), which made it mandatory to establish public daycare facilities in new residential complexes with 500 or more units.

The city signed a business agreement with Hana Asset Trust Co., Ltd. and Jiwoo N Co., Ltd., the construction developers of the residential complex, at the end of March, and selected a management operator in August, providing support for interior construction work and all equipment costs.

The newly opened Municipal The Sharp Osan Central Daycare has a capacity of 61 children and is currently recruiting children ages 2 to 4 ahead of its November opening.

Through continuous expansion of public daycare centers, the city has established public childcare infrastructure and enabled work-life balance, resulting in a 32.3% utilization rate for public daycare centers, which ranks third in Gyeonggi Province.

A city official stated, "Starting with the establishment of a public daycare center in the childcare town in Chopyeong-dong, we plan to expand three facilities in total, including establishing a public daycare center in the 15th block of residential complexes in Segyo 2 District in 2021, and aim to raise the utilization rate of public daycare centers to the 40% range by 2022."