September 3, 2016
The mayor of Tokyo’s Higashikurume City, Namiki Katsumi, on September 1 at a plenary meeting of the city assembly’s regular session announced that the city will reconsider its plan to close all public childcare centers.
The city government in March decided on a plan for all five public day-nurseries to be replaced one by one with private ones from April 2017 based on the city’s policy to achieve a “zero” waiting list to enter authorized childcare centers by promoting the entry of private for-profit companies into childcare services.
As the reason for the reevaluation, the mayor explained that although one of the five public childcare facilities is scheduled to be closed in March 2017, the city is having difficulty in finding a replacement. Under this circumstance, the city needs to revise the plan, the mayor said.
Following the mayor’s announcement, Japanese Communist Party city assemblyperson Hara Noriko, who heads the JCP city assembly members’ group, said, “The mayor’s decision indicates that the promotion of the private companies’ entry will contribute little to solving the issue of children on waiting lists for authorized daycare centers. The city should totally withdraw the closure plan.”
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At least 90,000 children are waiting to enter authorized public childcare centers, the Welfare Ministry announced on September 2. This figure includes the number of children on so-called “hidden waiting lists”.
According to the ministry, as of April 1, the number of children on waiting lists for admission to authorized public daycare centers increased by 386 from a year earlier to 23,552, up for the second straight year. At the same time, the number of “hidden children” who are not on waiting lists primarily because their parents delayed returning to work from childcare leave reached 67,354, up 8,293 from the previous year.
This indicates that it is difficult for the Abe government to fulfil its promise to decrease the number of children on waiting lists to zero by the end of March 2018.
Past related articles:
> Welfare Ministry intends to make childcare centers accept children beyond their capacity [March 29, 2016]
> City’s plan to close all public childcare centers provokes fierce backlash from public [March 17, 2016]
The city government in March decided on a plan for all five public day-nurseries to be replaced one by one with private ones from April 2017 based on the city’s policy to achieve a “zero” waiting list to enter authorized childcare centers by promoting the entry of private for-profit companies into childcare services.
As the reason for the reevaluation, the mayor explained that although one of the five public childcare facilities is scheduled to be closed in March 2017, the city is having difficulty in finding a replacement. Under this circumstance, the city needs to revise the plan, the mayor said.
Following the mayor’s announcement, Japanese Communist Party city assemblyperson Hara Noriko, who heads the JCP city assembly members’ group, said, “The mayor’s decision indicates that the promotion of the private companies’ entry will contribute little to solving the issue of children on waiting lists for authorized daycare centers. The city should totally withdraw the closure plan.”
***
At least 90,000 children are waiting to enter authorized public childcare centers, the Welfare Ministry announced on September 2. This figure includes the number of children on so-called “hidden waiting lists”.
According to the ministry, as of April 1, the number of children on waiting lists for admission to authorized public daycare centers increased by 386 from a year earlier to 23,552, up for the second straight year. At the same time, the number of “hidden children” who are not on waiting lists primarily because their parents delayed returning to work from childcare leave reached 67,354, up 8,293 from the previous year.
This indicates that it is difficult for the Abe government to fulfil its promise to decrease the number of children on waiting lists to zero by the end of March 2018.
Past related articles:
> Welfare Ministry intends to make childcare centers accept children beyond their capacity [March 29, 2016]
> City’s plan to close all public childcare centers provokes fierce backlash from public [March 17, 2016]
