ed CCTV for children

To the dismay of parents, the bill that would have mandated CCTV cameras at daycare centers did not pass muster at the National Assembly.

Both the ruling and opposition parties apologized and said that they would work toward passing such a measure next month.

After the shocking image of child abuse at a daycare center in Songdo, Incheon, in January, the bill governing daycare centers gained extra momentum for passage.

But of the 171 legislators that showed up for the vote, only 83 voted in favor of the bill that was toned down so much that closed-circuit television was not mandatory if all parents unanimously opposed it, and the viewing of its images was limited only to the parents and the investigating authorities. Legislators from both sides of the aisle cannot eschew criticism that they did not do enough effectively to persuade legislators, and possibly succumbed to pressure from interest groups ahead of the general elections in April.

The concern was that the mandatory installation of cameras could infringe upon the rights of daycare workers. To be sure, there is relevance in that logic. But the disclosure of yet another set of images found at a public daycare center in Goseong, South Gyeongsang Province, should change that mindset. Teachers were found guilty of abusive reprimands. The legislator who stressed that it was love, not surveillance, that was required to rear children should reconsider his words.

Korea as a society is suffering from a low birthrate while its population ages rapidly. The birthrate in 2014 was 435,300, the second lowest after 2005 since the government started recording the statistic in 1970. The talk among Korean parents is that it takes about 300 million won to raise one child to adulthood.

Statistics also found that if the current population trend continues, the portion of 65 years old or older people per 100 persons in the working-age population of 15 through 64 would be 37.7 by 2030. In 1975, that number was 5.9.

There is no need to add the element of having to worry about whether one’s child is safe at daycare here. The installation of cameras may not be the optimal, but it is a necessary measure at this point to raise the birthrate.