The Ministry of Education says it will sternly deal with education offices that refuse to draw up budgets for a state-initiated childcare program.
 
In a news briefing at the Government Complex in Seoul Thursday, Vice Education Minister Lee Young noted that funding for the Nuri program is now compulsory at regional education offices.
 
He said superintendents are required to draw up the budgets, but that some are refusing.
 
Lee said the ministry already provided subsidies for the program to educational offices in October and granted them the right to issue municipal bonds to help pay for the program.
 
He added that the National Assembly also passed a plan to tap 300 billion won from the government’s reserve fund for the Nuri program next year.
 
The ministry urged regional educational offices to draw up the budgets quickly, suggesting they produce an early supplementary municipal budget in January if necessary.
 
On Wednesday, the National Council of Governors of Education held a press conference, where it called on the government to pay for the Nuri budget.
 
The Nuri program, which includes free daycare for children aged three to five, is a state-initiated welfare program for young students, but the central government has been at odds with regional governments for years over how it should be financed.