New National Plan Proposes Major Overhaul to Early Childhood Education in Israel

Israel faces a critical crisis in early childhood education, with only about 40% of children under three enrolled in regulated care settings and roughly one-third in unregulated ones. Currently, parents bear approximately 70% of childcare costs, a stark contrast to the 25% average in developed countries. With around 550,000 children aged birth to three in Israel, experts warn that this period is crucial for brain development, yet government investment in early education is less than a tenth of the OECD average.

Ahead of the 26th Knesset elections and the new school year, the nonprofit "121, Engine for Social Change" and its initiative "In Good Hands, The Headquarters for Investment in Early Childhood" unveiled a comprehensive national plan. The proposal, developed with input from dozens of organizations and researchers, aims to integrate early childhood education fully into Israel’s education system based on three pillars: quality, subsidization, and accessibility. It recommends significantly increasing state funding to reduce parental fees, proposing a monthly total cost of about 4,000 shekels per child, with parents paying around 2,000 shekels on average.

Currently, the government spends about 2 billion shekels annually on early childhood education, just 2% of the Education Ministry’s 97 billion shekel budget. The new plan estimates an additional 8 billion shekels yearly to cover 342,000 children in care, plus 3.7 billion shekels to extend maternity leave to 26 weeks. It also calls for smaller group sizes, improved caregiver training and salaries, and expanded state oversight. For example, groups for children aged 0-15 months would be limited to nine children per caregiver, compared to up to 20 children per group under current law.

Legal expert Tali Nir emphasized the difficulty caregivers face in providing individual attention under current conditions and highlighted the plan’s goal to ensure quality, subsidized, and accessible education for all children. The proposal also assigns the Education Ministry responsibility for policy, standards, funding, and supervision, while local authorities would ensure sufficient supply and implementation.

An economic cost-benefit analysis by Numerix projects that despite a 12.2 billion shekel investment, the plan could yield 26.4 billion shekels in benefits over time through increased parental workforce participation, higher future earnings for children, and reduced crime rates. Additional savings in health, welfare, and special education are expected but not included in this calculation. The Shapira Committee noted that improving early childhood services could reduce special education needs by at least 50%, further easing public expenditures.