This Act is enacted to ensure young children’s right to appropriate education and care, establish guidelines of education and care, enhance the system of early childhood education and care（hereinafter referred to as “educare”）, and safeguard their right to sound physical and psychological development.
Family childcare services for young children shall follow stipulations of The Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act.

The competent authority refers to the Ministry of Education at the central government level, the municipal government at the municipal level, and the county or city government at the county or city level.
When any matter stipulated in this Act involves the duties of other competent authorities, they shall cooperate in the matter to achieve the aims of this Act.

Terms used in this Act are defined as follows:
1. “Young children”（hereinafter referred to as “children”）means children over the age of 2 and prior to entering elementary school.
2. “Educare” refers to the following types of services provided for children:
（1）family childcare services
（2）preschools
（3）community cooperative style
（4）tribal cooperative style
（5）workplace cooperative style
3. “Educare service institutions” refers to Subparagraphs 2 to 5 in the preceding Paragraph providing education and care services（hereinafter referred to as “educare services”）to children.
4. “Responsible person” means the person whose name is registered for the registration of the educare service institution in accordance with this Act and relevant regulations; for educare service institutions registered as juridical persons, the responsible person refers to the chairperson.
5. “Preschool educators” refers to those providing educare services, including principals, teachers, educare givers, and educare assistants.
6. “Other personnel of educare service institutions” refers to personnel of educare service institutions other than the board members and supervisors of incorporated preschool and those referred to in the preceding two subparagraphs.

The competent authorities at each level shall convene advisory committees to undertake integrated planning, coordinate, consult, and advocate educare services.
The competent authority at each level shall stipulate the autonomous regulations of the advisory committee. The advisory committee at all levels will be composed of representatives from the competent authority, competent health authority, competent labor authority, associations for the disabled, educare and child welfare scholars and experts, educare and child welfare associations, preschool educator associations, parent associations, and women’s groups.

The central competent authority shall be in charge of the following matters:
1. Development and recommendation of educare policies and laws.
2. Advocacy and promotion of educare philosophy and regulations.
3. Planning of national educare services, research, reward, consultation, experiments, accreditation, and evaluation.
4. Supervision, guidance, accreditation, and evaluation of local educare administration.
5. Collection, surveys, statistics, and publication of national educare data.
6. Assistance in establishing preschool educator associations and parent associations.
7. Other matters regarding national educare services.
Educare data referred to in Subparagraph 5 of the preceding Paragraph shall at least include fee-charging items and amounts, evaluation results, and punitive measures for educare service institutions nationwide.

The municipal or county（city）competent authority shall be in charge of the following matters:
1. Planning, experiments, promotion, and rewarding of local educare services.
2. Establishment, supervision, consultation, accreditation, and evaluation of educare service institutions.
3. Promoting to establish public preschools, non-profit preschools, and community/tribal/workplace cooperative educare services.
4. Planning and implementation of parenting education.
5. Collection, surveys, statistics, and publication of local educare data.
6. All other matters regarding local educare services.
Educare data referred to in Subparagraph 5 of the preceding Paragraph shall at least include fee-charging items and amounts, evaluation results, and punitive measures for educare service institutions within the jurisdiction of the municipal or county（city）competent authority.