Ilan raises hourly pay for public kindergarten extended-care teachers to NT$480

Public kindergarten teachers and childcare staff in Ilan County will receive higher hourly pay for extended-care services beginning with next year’s winter vacation. The rate will rise from NT$400 to NT$480.

The county’s Education Department said the increase aims to stabilize the preschool childcare workforce and improve service quality. National rules currently limit the central subsidy for public kindergarten extended-care hourly pay or overtime to NT$400. Ilan will fund the additional NT$80 itself.

The county estimates the change will add NT$5 million to NT$6 million to its annual budget. The decision follows an earlier 20% increase for teachers running after-school care and Night Angel classes in junior high and elementary schools. That increase was applied retroactively to September last year. Ilan officials later prepared a budget to extend the adjustment to public kindergarten teachers and childcare staff.

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We welcome the increase, but regret that it was not applied retroactively.

The preschool increase will not be retroactive. A teacher identified by the surname Lai welcomed the decision, saying the higher pay would encourage more childcare professionals to take on extended-care work. Lai also noted that Ilan’s adjustment comes six months after Hsinchu City’s.

Xiao Chia-yi, head of the Ilan County Teachers’ Professional Union, said the increase was welcome but regretted that it did not apply to earlier work. She said preschool and special-education staff received the adjustment later than junior high and elementary teachers, and urged central and local authorities to recognize the physical and psychological demands of preschool teaching and provide equal待遇.

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Preschool teachers spend almost the entire day in the classroom, facing enormous physical and psychological demands.