The government on Friday formally approved the details of a program that will expand child care and higher education support, including free public preschool education for all children aged between 3 and 5, beginning in October 2019.
To address the country's falling birthrate, the government will also make day care services free from October for children up to the age of 2 if they come from low-income households. It also plans to provide grant-type scholarships to university students from low-income families from April 2020.
The measures will be launched as the government raises the nation's consumption tax from 8 percent to 10 percent in October 2019, with some of the generated revenue to go towards paying for the plan.