1. Reason for Revision
The Child Care Act (Law No. 20380; promulgated on March 19, 2024) has been revised to introduce a disqualification clause that prohibits persons who are known to be addicted to drugs, including cannabis and psychotropic drugs, and convicted sex offenders from acquiring the qualifications required of daycare center directors and childcare teachers. Therefore, the proposed revision specifically stipulates the types of documents to be submitted for the screening of disqualified candidates and the method of verifying the reasons for their disqualification when applicants seek to acquire the qualifications required to become daycare center directors and childcare teachers.
In addition, the revision aims to improve the deficiencies in the current law by stipulating the types of documents to be submitted to verify the reasons for disqualification and the method of verifying the reasons for disqualification of applicants seeking the issuance of a certificate after the time limit for reissuing a certificate provided under Article 48 (2) of the Child Care Act has expired, and by including the change of name or resident registration code in the reasons for application for the reissuance of the certificate, in addition to loss of or damage to the certificate.
2. Main Contents
a. The revision stipulates that a doctor's certificate shall affirm that the director or nursery teacher of a daycare center is not an addict to narcotics, cannabis, or psychotropic drugs (Revised Article 18 (1) 1 of the draft).
b. In order to affirm that a director or nursery teacher of a daycare center is not a convicted sex offender, the organization in charge of certification-related duties will request the head of a police station to conduct a background check of an applicant’s history of sexual offenses. However, if a person who applies for the issuance of a certificate does not agree to the background check, that person must submit a reply report concerning background checks of his or her history of sexual offenses (Newly established Article 18 (2) and Article 18 (3) of the draft).
c. The revision stipulates that, in cases where person whose qualifications have been revoked under Article 48 (1) of the Act applies for issuance of the certificate for as a director or nursery teacher of a daycare center after the expiration of the reissuance restriction period under Article 48 (2), the following must be verified: whether the applicant falls under the disqualifying grounds for acquiring qualifications pursuant to Article 21-2, the expiration of the reissuance restriction period under Article 48(2), and the submission of documents confirming that the grounds for disqualification under Article 48(1) is no longer applicable (Newly established Article 18 (4) of the draft).
d. The revision adds changes made to the full name or resident registration code of the applicant as a reason for reissuing the certificate in addition to loss or damage thereof (Revised Article 18 (5) of the draft).
e. The revision revises the application form for issuance (reissuance) of certificates for daycare center directors and nursery teachers in order to reflect the attached documents to verify the reason for disqualification pursuant to Article 21-2 of the Act (Revised attached Form 11).
