Hamas's murderous attack near the Gaza Strip disrupted the education system throughout the country. This happened exactly the day before Israeli students were supposed to return to school after the long vacation that began on Yom Kippur. After-school programs, daycare centers, private kindergartens and other formal and informal education frameworks on the one hand cannot operate, and on the other hand, if funds are not collected from parents, they will collapse financially and will not be able to open the frameworks even after the end of the war.
Statement by Education Minister Yoav Kish, The State of Learning in the Shadow of the War // Ministry of Education
The operators of the frameworks cannot always return the payments because they have to pay for the structures and salaries for the employees. Now many parents do not know whether, when and from whom they will receive a refund of thousands of shekels. But the state is in no hurry to put its hand in its pocket, and once again it is the citizens who are paying the price.
Supervised daycare centers
Tens of thousands of toddlers up to age 3 are educated in supervised, state-subsidized daycare centers operated by organizations such as WIZO, Naamat, Smart Start, Emunah, and more. These are non-profit organizations. The daycare centers and caregivers who do holy work are trapped. On the one hand, the parents paid the October payment, and will soon be charged for the month of November, but in practice the frameworks hardly worked. On the other hand, the organizations that operate the daycare centers have to pay money to the caregivers, who in any case earn meager wages. In addition, the organizations had to pay rent and ongoing expenses.
Mira Mines, CEO of WIZO: "The early childhood industry in Israel is on the verge of collapse. 20,3 caregivers in supervised daycare centers for toddlers between the ages of birth and 6 don't know if they'll get paid in a few days. This is unthinkable. While teachers, kindergarten teachers and aides for ages 3-120 are guaranteed salary payments regardless of whether the educational institution was open or closed, when it comes to caregivers there is no response, and the Israeli government and the Minister of Finance do not take responsibility for the incident. Without caregivers in daycare centers, 250,<> toddlers will be left without frameworks and about <>,<> parents will be affected. Harm to daycare workers directly affects workers' employment and the return of the economy to functioning. I expect and call on the finance minister to resolve the crisis immediately."
Mira Mines, Executive Director of WIZO,
The Finance Ministry said in response: "In the coming days, the Ministries of Finance, Labor and Education will publish the policy regarding the payment of parents' wages in daycare centers."
The Private Gardens
A private kindergarten (ages birth to 3) is a private business in every respect, and prices range from NIS 3,000 in the periphery to NIS 5,000 per month in the center. The owners of the kindergartens, whose goal is to earn money (along with gifts for education for many of them), as well as the parents of the children registered with them, find themselves again as in the coronavirus. On the one hand, they have bills to pay such as rent, workers' wages, insurance, cameras, etc., and on the other hand, the frameworks didn't work, the parents had to sit at home with their children, paid money and didn't receive anything in return or framework. However, many kindergarten owners have announced that they are not returning the funds to the parents, certainly not the full amount, because they claim that doing so will cause them to collapse financially. The parents, on the one hand, are afraid of losing their place in the kindergarten if they confront the owners of the kindergarten, but on the other hand, they also find it difficult to pay for the framework while they stay at home with their children and miss work.
Shahar Michael, mother of a toddler from Ramat Gan, says: "Since the second week of October, there has been almost no framework, partly because of Home Front Command directives. On days when there was a frame - it operated until 12:00 only In practice, we paid money and didn't receive service, the owner of the private kindergarten did everything she could, but she has to take care of her livelihood and that of the workers, so I expect the state to compensate her. We have to wake up, young couples are being harmed, the layer that drives the economy."
They have not yet returned to a continuous frame,
The Finance Ministry said: "As part of the compensation outline for businesses, the private kindergartens will receive a business continuity grant in accordance with the level of damage to them."
After-school
After-school programs are supposed to continue the school day for students in kindergartens (6-3) and elementary schools. The after-school programs are operated by the local authorities or by operators on their behalf. In this case, too, the parents paid for after-school for October, but the students were not in the framework. November has also begun, and it is still unclear whether they will be charged and who is supposed to compensate them or return the money.
Based on experience, the Ashkelon Municipality did not charge parents for after-school programs, extracurricular activities, feeding or transportation. The Ashdod Municipality noted that "no collection will be made for services that were not provided." On the other hand, many authorities in the center did oblige the parents.
It is assumed that all authorities will return to parents the money for the services that were not provided, but at this stage there is no uniform and clear policy. The Education Ministry said in response: "The ministry is working together with the Finance Ministry to build an outline that will enable the daycare centers to return to the parents the amount of money they paid for the days when there was no activity in the daycare centers because of the war. The ministries are building a compensation model for dormitories that will be similar to the reimbursement model set during the COVID-19 period. It is important to note that the final decision on the matter is in the hands of the Ministry of Finance. The Education Ministry is in ongoing dialogue with the Finance Ministry, and after decisions are made, they will be published."
Afternoon care (illustration),
Student plight
The academic year was postponed to December, but the student union received inquiries from students that some academic institutions had already begun lowering payments to students. These are tuition and dormitory fees, even though some of the students are in reserve duty. It should be emphasized that these are not research universities, where they noted when the fighting began that the committee of university heads decided that in all universities the collection of the November tuition fee will be postponed to later dates, later in the year. In addition, it was decided that no rent will be collected for October from students who live in dormitories and have been drafted into reserve service. However, some colleges do charge tuition and dormitory fees.
Yaala Rosenzweig, 24, a computer science student at Ruppin College, says that the college charges students for dormitories: "The start of the school year has been postponed to December, a date that is not at all certain. At the moment, more than half of the students do not live in dormitories because there are no classes as usual. Still, the administration insists and continues to charge us thousands of shekels. We feel that this is opacity and exploitation of the student population who are bound by the decisions of the academic institution, most of the students are not working these days and are unable to finance the rent and tuition fees together."
"Obtuseness and exploitation". Yaala Rosenzweig,
According to Elhanan Felheimer, Chairman of the National Union of Students and Students: "There is no justification for the student public, some of whom reported for reserve duty and struggled at the front, while others show responsibility and volunteer in countless government and civilian projects alike, will continue to pay these payments. The ministries of finance and education must find solutions together with the academic institutions."
Merofin said: "At the moment there is only a benefit for reservists in Order 8. Anyone who has committed to a dormitory room is welcome to live in the compound, and indeed there are quite a few people there who do so."
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