To earn a second assistant: In recent weeks, the Jerusalem District Police have investigated Jerusalem Municipality employees on suspicion of fictitiously placing children in kindergartens located in the capital.
The goal was to bring the number of children in kindergarten to more than 30, so that the kindergarten would be eligible for additional assistance, even though in practice it has less than 30 children.
In a routine audit conducted by the Enforcement Division of the Ministry of Education, suspicion arose that the Jerusalem Municipality had forwarded to the Ministry of Education fictitious reports of the placement of dozens of children who had never been to the same kindergartens.
In no less than 33 kindergartens in the state sector (ages 4-3), a fictitious report was found, according to which 57 children were reportedly placed in them.
Office officials found that some of the children enrolled in the kindergarten lived abroad and some were never placed in the reported kindergartens. One of the records revealed that one of the children was "transferred" between 16 different kindergartens during the year to inflate the number of students in the kindergarten.
The reason for the move in which students enrolled falsely was allegedly intended to inflate the number of children in each kindergarten and bring it to a situation where there are more than 30 children - which entitles the kindergarten to another assistant, a second assistant.
In total, the Jerusalem Municipality received an additional assistant for those children and a total budget of about NIS 4 million.
Millions from the state coffers
In 2016, the Ministry of Education in the kindergartens for ages 4-3 applied the "Second Assistant" reform, which stipulated that in kindergartens with more than 30 children, another assistant would be assigned, so that the kindergarten staff would include three staff members (a teacher and two assistants).
Nowadays, local authorities who want to add an assistant are forced to do so out of pocket, if there are less than 30 children in the kindergarten.
The findings of the Ministry of Education's investigation led to the filing of a complaint with the fraud unit of the Jerusalem District Police.
Police questioned city employees, and dozens of kindergarten teachers testified.
Investigators are currently transferring the investigation file to the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office, to examine the filing of an indictment against the suspects.
At the same time, workers in the Ministry of Education are returning to the state coffers the amounts that were falsely reported - NIS 4 million.
The Jerusalem Municipality responded: "The municipality cooperates as required and due to the privacy of the individual we will not address the details. The municipality treats its employees in accordance with the provisions of the law and in accordance with municipal procedures, and will act in this case."
The Israel Police stated: "After the investigation into the matter was completed, its findings were submitted to the State Attorney's Office for review and decision, as is customary."
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us