Japan Press Weekly

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2013 February 20 - 26 [WELFARE]

Mothers push mayor to provide daycare services to more children

Pushed by a mothers’ movement, the mayor of Tokyo’s Suginami Ward on February 22 announced that his administration will provide daycare services for 200 more children in the next fiscal year starting in April.

Suginami Ward received 2,968 applications, 400 more than last year, from parents for their children to be enrolled in authorized daycare centers this spring. Since the total capacity of such facilities in the ward is 1,135 children, about 1,800 children remain on the waiting list to obtain enrollment.

A group of parents on the same day sent a statement to Mayor Tanaka Ryo demanding that he implement urgent measures to ensure nursery services of good quality for more children and build more authorized daycare facilities. They held a rally in front of the ward office on February 18 and 19.

At a press conference, Mayor Tanaka stated that he will have public and private authorized daycare centers in the ward accept 100 more children as well as provide another 100 children with nursery services by utilizing existing public facilities and the small-sized “smart childcare” program, proposed by Tokyo Governor Inose Naoki.

Stressing financial burdens the ward has to bear, the mayor said, “Clinging to authorized daycare centers is outdated and not realistic.”

Japanese Communist Party Suginami Ward Assembly member Yamada Kohei criticized the mayor’s urgent plan as still very insufficient. The ward administration should use 25.5 billion yen of a fund that has still not designated its use and drastically increase authorized daycare centers as parents demand, he stressed.

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In response to the movement of mothers in Suginami Ward, Tokyo Governor Inose Naoki on February 22 said that deregulation of childcare services need to be further promoted in order to reduce the number of children waiting to enter nursery facilities.

Under former Governor Ishihara Shintaro, the metropolitan government in 2001 introduced its own standards for authorizing daycare centers that are lower than the national government’s standards. It also cut subsidies for public daycare facilities and promoted corporate entry into the childcare industry.

Many daycare centers authorized by Tokyo are located in buildings attached to train stations or were formerly used as offices. They charge parents more than that charged by the facilities authorized by the state.

Many parents are calling for more nationally-authorized daycare centers to be built. According to the Welfare Ministry’s recent research, 75% of respondents raised such daycare centers as a childcare service they want to use.

In Tokyo, at least 22,000 children cannot enter nationally-authorized daycare centers due to the shortage of such facilities. This was revealed to the public by Japanese Communist Party metropolitan assembly members.

The number is actually expected to be larger since it accounts for a total of 48 out of the 62 municipalities in Tokyo that responded to the JCP survey by February 22.

Related past article:
>Mothers take action to demand increase in child-care centers