MOE stages forum to promote gender equality in educare, family policies

2024/10/08

An international forum on gender equality in family policies and child care was staged Oct. 6 in Taipei City, highlighting government efforts to work with partners to seek countermeasures for declining birthrates and look for ways to enhance preschool education.
 
Organized by the Ministry of Education’s K-12 Education Administration, the day-long event was attended by academics, experts and professional educators from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. The event comprised discussions on creating a culture of gender equality, as well as how to support dual-income families with quality child care and education.
 
During a policy discussion, KEA Deputy Director-General Hsu Li-chuan, Shigeki Matsuda of Japan’s Chukyo University and Jaehoon Jung from Seoul Women’s University shared the methods their countries have implemented to counter low birth rates, the MOE said, adding that one common method is reducing the financial burden of child care for young families.
 
In forum discussions centered on creating a gender-equal family and parenting culture, participants further exchanged views on household division of labor, parental involvement in school-home collaboration, and child care resources and environments created by parents and communities. Jaerim Lee from Seoul National University elaborated on measures undertaken in South Korea, including family care leave and paternity leave; Hwang Shann-hwa from Texas Woman’s University in the U.S. talked about the role of fathers in school-home cooperation; and Tu Miao-ju from Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City and Yang Pei-yao from Meinong Non-profit Kindergarten in Kaohsiung City shared information about facilities like parent-child centers and children’s parks in Taiwan.
 
For other discussions centering on supporting dual-income families with sufficient and affordable public childcare facilities, Xing Man-ling from the University of Taipei stressed the importance of providing educators with sufficient time to prepare lesson plans and supplemental materials and Guo Shan-ci from the Private Early Childhood Education Center talked about environment design for preschools.
 
According to the K-12 Education Administration, it will take such experiences shared during the forum as references for drafting future preschool education policies. 


Source:  Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)