Radical Steps Needed to Support Childcare, Education

The nation's birthrate currently stands at the world's lowest level of 1.22. Pessimists even warn that it may drop below the one-point mark in the not-too-distant future. So, concerns are growing that the resultant demographic problem will pose one of the toughest challenges for the country, causing a surge in the number of senior citizens and a rapid decline in the overall population.

Recognizing the grave nature of this matter, the Presidential Council for Future and Vision proposed Wednesday a package of measures to lift the birthrate and provide support for childcare and education. One of the steps is to offer incentives for families with three or more children which include special interest rates on their mortgages. Third or additional children can also receive bonus scores on college entrance exams and job applications.

The council also said that the government would launch an ``Increase Koreans" project to actively invite more talented people from overseas by widening the door to immigrants. The project is in line with a government decision to allow dual citizenship ― albeit on a limited basis ― to attract foreign professionals into the country. Therefore, the nation is required to double its efforts to move toward a multicultural society.

Also eye-catching is a plan to lower the age of primary school admissions by one year to five. A council member said that if the school age was lowered, families with preschool children could save on reduced private tutoring costs. Currently, most children attend kindergarten for two to three years. If they go to elementary school one year earlier, parents could be free from a year's burden of private education. Children would then finish their 12 years of school education one year earlier, and become part of the economically active population.

The age cut is seen as a good idea to help cope with an expected fall in the nation's workforce. However, some education experts express concerns that the measure may bring about side effects such as children's difficulty in adapting themselves to school life at a younger age. They point out that education should not be tackled only from the point of economic efficiency.

Under the rule of former President Roh Moo-hyun, the government unveiled a similar plan to allow five-year-old children to attend elementary school. But the plan was scrapped in the face of strong protests from parents. In fact, a considerable number of parents have tried to delay their children's school attendance by one year out of fear that they might lag behind their peers in classroom activities. Therefore, the authorities must make thorough preparations for the early attendance plan.

The government has so far announced a series of different measures to promote marriages and childbirth to avert a looming population crisis. But we have to admit that those measures have proven to be unsuccessful at producing tangible results. Thus, the Lee Myung-bak administration needs to overhaul all its policies to map out a better strategy. The nation's workforce is expected to begin to decrease in 2016, while its total population is likely to start a downward march in 2018. The administration should work out more comprehensive and bolder measures to prevent such a demographic disaster before it's too late.