No.68 Measures to Address Waiting List for Nursery Schools

The situation of parenting in Inagi City used to involve many multi-generational households and full-time housewives, with most parenting done at home and children attending kindergarten for short periods during the day. However, with the rise of nuclear families, increased participation of women in the workforce, and more families where both parents work full-time, the number of children being placed in nursery schools for long hours during the day continues to increase.
Since 1969, the city has sequentially established public licensed nursery schools as shown in the table below. Additionally, it has become difficult to meet the rising demand solely with public facilities, so since the Heisei era, private licensed nursery schools have been gradually established and relocated (privatized) in conjunction with the opening of new town areas, resulting in a current total of 4 public and 10 private facilities.
However, the reality is that we are still unable to fully meet the demand. Establishing new nursery schools cannot be done overnight, so we have implemented various measures such as expanding the capacity of existing facilities, increasing flexibility in capacity, providing temporary childcare, utilizing home daycare providers, and developing facilities other than licensed nursery schools, such as certified childcare centers (7 centers with 214 children) and authorized children's centers (1 center with 114 children), to expand the number of children accepted and alleviate the waiting list. These measures have increased the number of accepted children by about 700 from fiscal year 2004 to the current year.
As a result of these efforts, the number of children on the waiting list based on the new standards was zero for two consecutive years in fiscal years 2015 and 2016. However, in fiscal year 2017, the number of applicants significantly increased compared to the previous year, leading to a waiting list. It is believed that the increase in people moving in with the expectation of entering nursery schools is a factor, as having zero waiting children is rare in Tokyo.
By the way, regarding the method of counting the number of waiting children, there has not been a unified calculation method until now, leading to discrepancies among municipalities. Just because there are zero waiting children does not mean that everyone can enter their desired nursery school, and we are aware of various criticisms regarding this. However, please also understand that the rate of capacity development for childcare centers is high compared to neighboring cities.
In light of this situation, we have decided to take emergency measures this fiscal year and submitted a supplementary budget to the June 2017 city council. We will promote flexibility in the capacity of existing nursery schools within the fiscal year, implement an increase of 27 in capacity, and provide subsidies for securing housing for nursery school teachers in private facilities.
Additionally, we plan to work on the following measures in the future.

1. The Licensed Childcare Center in front of Inagi Station will transition to a Licensed Nursery School in April 2018, increasing the capacity from 30 to three times that number.
2. Efforts will be made to establish a Nursery School and other facilities in the Minamiyama Land Readjustment Project area by the fiscal year 2019.
3. Continuing negotiations for the lease of the former Omaru municipal housing site, we will strive to establish a Nursery School by the year 2020.
4. Efforts will be made to establish a Nursery School and other facilities in the Sakahama Kodara Land Readjustment Project area by the year 2021.

The city will continue to address the elimination of waiting children in Nursery Schools as one of our top priorities, so we ask for your understanding and cooperation.

History of the Opening of Licensed Childcare Centers

Annual	Childcare Center Name	Capacity
1969	City First (currently Nakajima Yushi)	75
1971	Hirao	195
1972	City Hall Second (currently Hongo Yushi)	78
1975	City Third	125
1976	Matsuba	103
1976	City Hall Fourth	70
1976	City Hall Fifth	67
1987	Municipal Sixth	100
1989	Koyodai	130
1992	Shiroyama	100
1995	Momi no Ki Nagamine	110
1999	Wakabadai Baobab	110
2002	Momi no Ki Wakabadai	120
2011	Yuushi Nakajima	140
2015	Shiroyama Minamiyama	125
2015	Yushi Hongo	150

The capacity for each facility is as it was at the time of opening.