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Huge sums spent on day cares (illustration)
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MK Haim Katz
Photo: Gil Yohanan
MK Dalia Itzik
Photo: Gil Yohanan

Bill proposes free education for kids under 5

Middle class's plight reaches Knesset: MK Itzik, Katz aim to save young parents thousands of shekels spent on day cares, kindergartens

In the backdrop of the growing protest of Israel's middle class, a new bill aims to provide free education to kids under the age of five.  

 

The new bill, initiated by MK Dalia Itzik (Kadima) and MK Haim Katz (Likud), is meant to save young parents thousands of shekels a year spent on day care centers and private kindergartens.

 

 

The two claim that parents of toddlers are forced to pay huge sums ranging between NIS 2,300 (roughly $680) a month for government-controlled day cares to NIS 4,000 (roughly $1,180) for private facilities.

 

It is claimed that kindergartens controlled by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor offer a limited number of places forcing many parents to enroll their children into private kindergartens.

 

"This tuition ranges from NIS 27,000 to NIS 45,000 annually – an astronomical sum - which exceeds the cost of academic studies in Israel's most expensive colleges," the bill states.

 

The bill also aims to help mothers who due to high day care rates stay at home to raise their kids, go back to work. "This situation increases poverty, hurts the integration of women in the job market and erodes the middle class."

 

The MKs claim that while the bill entails significant costs, the state will ultimately benefit from it as more parents will reenter the job market which will increase the GNP and tax collection and minimize poverty.

 

Meanwhile, Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Shalom Simhon and Finance Ministry representatives agreed to fund the day care control bill allocating some NIS 1 billion for the bill's implementation.

 

Kindergartens and day care centers will be required to meet standards set by Simhon but the government will bear the costs of the needed adjustments. The Knesset will vote on the bill in second and third readings next week. The bill aims to settle licensing for day cares with more than seven children under the age of three which operate unsupervised.

 

Tomer Velmer and Omri Efraim contributed to this report

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.28.11, 13:29
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