Enrollment of Arab Children in Supervised Daycare

Currently, there is broad consensus among researchers and professionals that comprehensive, accessible, high-quality education frameworks for young children (from birth to 3 years) can make a significant contribution to reducing economic inequality and advancing social mobility. Furthermore, research shows that attending a high-quality early education framework contributes to an infant’s cognitive, social, and emotional development and the development of their skills and abilities.

It is reasonable to assume that in frameworks with the daycare badge, which until recently were under the supervision of the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs and were subsidized by it, the educational and childcare conditions are superior to those in unsupervised frameworks. This is due to the lack of government supervision and uniform standards with respect to the levels of education and care provided in unsupervised frameworks (the number of staff relative to number of children, the training of the caregivers, safety rules, etc.).

In the past decade, there has been a 34% increase in the total number of children attending supervised early childhood education and care (ECEC) frameworks. Nevertheless, over the years, large gaps remain between populations in Israel and particularly between children in the Arab sector and children in the rest of the population. Moreover, although 58% of the children in the Arab sector live in poor families, their enrollment rate in supervised and subsidized ECEC frameworks for the birth to 3 years age group is particularly low: 18% in the 2018/2019 school year (in contrast to 39% in the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sector and 26% in the non-Haredi Jewish sector). Furthermore, a large share of the children who attend supervised frameworks are there because of the Law for Young Children at Risk (about 41% in Arab local authorities as compared to 11% in Jewish ones and 8% in Haredi ones). Important differences were also observed in the type of supervised framework attended by the children, namely a daycare center or family daycare. About one-half of the children in the Arab sector (46%) attend family daycare as compared to about 6% in the non-Haredi Jewish sector and about 21% in the Haredi sector.

In recent years, efforts have been made by policy makers to expand the use of these frameworks in Arab society — one of the most marginalized sectors in Israel — but without success. Their rate of enrollment in supervised frameworks remains particularly low.

The research mapped the factors determining the low rates of enrollment in these frameworks by children in Arab society utilizing data from the government ministries, an Internet survey carried out by the Taub Center, and telephone interviews conducted by the researchers with relevant professional staff, mothers of infants in Arab society, and operators of private ECEC frameworks. Based on the research findings, a number of policy alternatives to deal effectively with this phenomenon were presented.

The main barriers to attendance of the frameworks

• Systemic barriers: During the 2019/2020 school year, the number of ECEC frameworks for children of working parents in Arab local authorities was lower than in other population groups. Although the Arab localities are given a higher allocation per child for construction of daycare centers, the actual rate of construction is the lowest among the various authorities (50% as opposed to 79% in Haredi local authorities and 61% in Jewish non-Haredi local authorities). It appears that the main reasons for this are the difficulties in obtaining building permits due the lack of zoning plans and the scarcity of appropriate land reserves in the Arab local authorities; the cost of furnishing and equipping the daycare centers after their construction which is not included in the construction budget and which many Arab local authorities are unable to finance; the difficulty in dealing with the complex bureaucracy in order to obtain government support for the construction of daycare centers; and the lack of professional manpower to initiate and support the planning and construction process.

• Barriers to access: The low rates of employment among Arab women and the linking of daycare subsidies to the mother’s employment reduces the chance of Arab children being accepted to supervised frameworks and further reduces the share of families that are eligible for subsidies; the lack of synchronization between the hours of the framework’s operation and the part-time jobs in which many Arab women are employed; physical barriers, such as the lack of mobility and the lack of public transport make it difficult for mothers to bring their children to the frameworks; the limited dispersal of supervised ECEC frameworks in Arab local authorities (and in particular day care centers); and bureaucratic and technological barriers that make it difficult to become eligible for subsidies.
• Financial barriers: Even after subsidies, the cost of attendance is high relative to the mother’s income. The relatively low wages of many mothers in the Arab population mean that they do not reach the lowest tax bracket that qualifies for tax credit points with which to defray the cost of daycare. Thus, almost two-thirds of Arab working women are not eligible for the benefit. Furthermore, many parents in the Arab population prefer registering their children for private frameworks whose cost is lower than in the Jewish sector, ranging from NIS 1,000–1,700 per month for a full day. This is lower than even the subsidized cost in supervised daycare centers at some of the eligibility levels.
• Although the personal preferences of parents are certainly a factor that affects their willingness to register for supervised frameworks, there are no findings that indicate a particular preference among parents in Arab society that their young children be cared for by their mothers or other female members of the family (the cultural factor).

Policy alternatives

• In order to overcome the systemic barriers, the researchers recommend modifying the planning rules to better fit the complex reality in the Arab population and local authorities; increasing the resources allocated to Arab local authorities in the planning and approval stages of daycare center construction; and the addition of positions, filling them and training of professionals in the Arab local authorities to develop early education infrastructure.
• In order to overcome barriers to access, consideration should be given to canceling the subsidy linkage based on the employment of the mother which would begin with a pilot in a number of localities; carrying out a thorough analysis of the registration process for preschool frameworks and the application for subsidies; creating a flexible public transport system; and expanding the dispersal of supervised ECEC frameworks in Arab local authorities.
• In order to overcome the financial barriers, the size of the subsidies for early education frameworks should be increased, such that tuition will not exceed NIS 1,000 per month; the possibility of a short day should be examined as a pilot in a number of localities; the way in which the tax benefit is provided to parents should be changed and the unutilized portion of the tax benefit used to reduce the cost of ECEC frameworks; and tax benefits should be provided to employers who finance childcare services for their employees.

The research was generously supported by the Beracha Foundation, the Bernard van Leer Foundation, and Yad Hanadiv.