Teachers’ and Preschool Staff Gifts Expected to Top 60 Million Shekels

Parents, class committees and educational institutions across Israel are marking the end of a difficult school year with gifts for teachers, kindergarten staff and other educators worth tens of millions of shekels. Swish, a gift card company owned by Nofeshonit, estimates the average gift for education workers this year at about 200 shekels.

The company says most parents are choosing digital gifts and gift cards, allowing educators to decide how to use them. Based on redemption data from previous years, Swish expects the overall market for end-of-year gifts in public and private kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools and high schools to exceed 60 million shekels.

Swish estimates that Israel currently has about 200,000 teachers, around 20,000 public-sector kindergarten teachers, about 30,000 private kindergarten teachers and more than 50,000 aides in the public and private education systems. It says more than half of the spending, about 51% of redemptions, will go to fashion and style chains.

Another 21% of recipients are expected to use the gifts at home design and household goods chains, 17% at restaurants and cafes, and the remaining 11% in entertainment, leisure and other categories. Swish vice president for marketing and business development Anat Cohen-Gever said end-of-year gifting has become one of Israel’s main ways of thanking education staff, and that many parents now want practical, personalized gifts. She added that digital gift cards are becoming increasingly popular because they are easy to buy, send and use nationwide.