Starting next year, the parents of all five-year-olds will receive government subsidies to help offset the cost of their children’s preschool education.

Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik announced on Monday a new education plan for five-year-olds in a joint news conference with the education minister and the health and welfare ministers.

Under the plan, the government will introduce a unified education curriculum for five-year-old children to allow them to receive quality education, whether they attend kindergarten or a day care center. Currently, kindergartens and day care centers use different programs with different educational goals.

Beginning next year, the government plans to cover two-thirds of kindergarten or daycare expenses. It will also increase the amount of support annually to cover the entire cost by 2016.

The government says that the measure will extend the period of the free mandatory education to ten years from the current nine years. Only elementary and middle school courses are included in the nine-year government-subsidized mandatory education program at this time.