Bupyeong District Council Member Jeong Yu-jeong: "We need to bridge the gap in integrated early childhood education and discover child-friendly projects unique to Bupyeong"

Jeong Yu-jeong, a member of the Bupyeong District Council's Administrative Welfare Committee (Democratic Party, Bupyeong 3, Sangok 3, 4, Sipjeong 1, 2), strongly urged the need to address educational disparities during the integration of early childhood education and to discover unique projects for Bupyeong as a child-friendly city in her first duty report for 2026.

During the 5th Administrative Welfare Committee meeting of the 274th extraordinary session held on the 3rd, she focused her inquiries on the progress of the integration of early childhood education and the equity issues regarding support for foreign children, targeting the Early Childhood Education Division and the Child Welfare Division.

In her inquiry to the Early Childhood Education Division, she checked the status of childcare fee support for foreign children. She pointed out, "For foreign children, the difference in support between kindergartens and daycare centers amounts to about 150,000 won," and urged, "Since the original purpose of the integration of early childhood education is to provide equitable educational services without discrimination, please actively communicate with the education office to ensure that economically vulnerable foreign children are not marginalized in the field."

In response, the Bupyeong District Office stated, "We will continue to communicate with the education office's early childhood integration team to discuss directions for ensuring equity in cost support."

Regarding the Child Welfare Division, she requested the discovery of 'Bupyeong-style new projects' that go beyond merely maintaining child-friendly city certification. She emphasized the need for Bupyeong to take the initiative in considering creative projects that have not been attempted nationwide, beyond benchmarking excellent cases from other local governments, and highlighted the importance of actively incorporating the voices from the field.

In particular, she drew attention by proposing innovative changes to the administrative organization to the Director of Welfare. Citing the recent establishment of the 'Oeum Care Bureau' in Incheon City, she suggested, "It is necessary to consider changing the names of departments or teams that have been fixed for decades to names that reflect the changes of the times and are resident-friendly."

She added, "Even in the name of a department, the willingness of the administration to listen to the opinions of residents can be reflected, so please review benchmarking and innovation regarding team names and composition to be able to breathe closer to residents during the organizational diagnosis process scheduled for this year."