Koreas Children Welfare Ranks Low
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
The nation's child welfare ranks comparatively lower to that of most other countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a report revealed.
In the survey, a professor at Gyeongsang National University compared the portion of government support for the poor, nurturing care and education services to gross domestic product (GDP).
``The comparison showed that the South Korean government's care system for children is far behind the global standards,'' Bae Hwa-ok, assistant professor of social welfare at the university, said. ``A more serious issue here is the fact that the lack of support incites the polarization between children from poor and rich families.''
The portion of government support for poor families to GDP stood at only 0.2 percent, far lower than the average of 2.4 percent of 30 OECD member countries. Australia, France and Austria spend about 4 percent of GDP for cash support of poor families apart from other benefits such as tax reduction.
``The money supporting poor families is important in terms of childcare because it serves as a safety net to offer children a chance to get necessary care and education. Without that, they can't overcome poverty in the future,'' she said.
In terms of parental care and early education, South Korea also ranks low among OECD member countries.
The average budget for early childhood development of OECD member countries makes up 0.7 percent of GDP, but the South Korean government spends only 0.12 percent.
Nurseries in Korea average one teacher for every 20.8 students, ranking last among OECD member countries after Mexico's 28.3.
But the professor pointed out that the problem can be worse if the quality of education and care is taken into consideration.
``Compared to 10 years ago, polarization is getting worse. Children from the rich get quality education and care, maybe more than they need. But children from poor families or broken families have been neglected without receiving minimum necessary care,'' she said.
She believes that it is the wrong approach to simply take the successful systems of other countries.
``More realistic solutions to enhance child welfare can be found in concentrating on the most serious and urgent issues such as more support for poor and broken families,'' she said.