Supervised Daycare for Infants in Arab Society: Enrollment, Barriers and Policy Recommendations

Among researchers and professionals in the field of early childhood, there is currently a broad consensus that comprehensive, accessible and high-quality early education frameworks can make a significant contribution to reducing economic inequality and advancing social mobility. Furthermore, studies show that attendance by infants of high-quality early education frameworks contributes to their cognitive, social and emotional development and the development of their skills and abilities, with the effect even more pronounced in low-income families.

Despite the fact that Israel’s government has adopted various policies to promote investment in early childhood, many precipitated by the social protests of 2011, the measures taken have not provided sufficient benefit to those with the greatest need. In particular, the rate of enrollment of children in supervised early education frameworks (up to age 3) in Arab society remains particularly low, despite having high rates of poverty and a very large population of children in the relevant age group. This situation, as mentioned, has implications for the families of these children in the present and for the children’s life outcomes in the future.

The Taub Center recently published a new study on early childhood by Shavit Madhala, Labib Shami, John Gal and Elon Seela entitled Enrollment of Arab Children in Supervised Daycare. It examines the question of enrollment of children in Arab society aged from birth to 3 years in supervised daycare frameworks in Israel. The study maps the factors determining the low enrollment rates of children in the Arab sector in these frameworks and presents a number of policy alternatives to deal effectively with the phenomenon.

Characteristics of enrollment of children in Arab society in supervised early education frameworks

During the past decade, there has been an increase of 34% in the number of children enrolled in supervised daycare frameworks. Over the years, however, major disparities between Israel’s various population groups have persisted, and these have been particularly prominent within the Arab-Israeli sector. While 58% of Arab-Israeli children live in poor families, their rate of enrollment in supervised and subsidized frameworks from birth to age 3 is particularly low and stood at 18% in 2018–19 (as opposed to 39% in the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sector and 26% in the non-Haredi Jewish sector). Furthermore, a large proportion of the children that do attend supervised frameworks were placed there on the basis of the Law for Young Children at Risk, the law that entitles every child-at-risk under the age of 3 to daycare: about 41% of the children in Arab municipalities in contrast to 11% in non-Haredi Jewish municipalities and 8% in Haredi municipalities. Alongside these gaps in enrolment, the study points to gaps in the level of subsidization of children in supervised frameworks. The determination of eligibility for a subsidy is based primarily on per capita household income, and the research reveals very high rates of subsidization for children of working Haredi parents, with 89% receiving subsidies that amount to more than half of tuition, in contrast to 54% in the Arab sector and about 30 percent in the non-Haredi Jewish sector.

Causes of non-enrollment in supervised daycare frameworks in Arab society and policy recommendations

The decision to enroll a child in a supervised framework is in part related to parents’ personal preferences regarding the optimal age at which childcare should take place outside the home and the family environment. Alongside these preferences, the researchers identified three types of barriers that discourage the enrollment of infants from the Arab sector in supervised daycare frameworks.

Planning and infrastructure barriers: The enrollment of infants in supervised frameworks is dependent first and foremost on frameworks being located in close proximity to where the infants live. According to data for the 2019–20 school year, the number of daycare centers for children of working parents was about 1.6 per 1,000 children in Arab municipalities, in contrast to 5.3 per 1,000 children in non-Haredi Jewish municipalities. The scarcity is even more pronounced in the Southern District, where the Bedouin settlements are located. The utilization of budgets for the construction of daycare centers in Arab municipalities is also low relative to Jewish municipalities, whether Haredi or non-Haredi, and stands at about 50% in contrast to 79% in Haredi municipalities and 61% in non-Haredi Jewish municipalities. This is in spite of the fact that the average allocation per child for the construction of daycare centers in the Arab municipalities is higher than in the other sectors. The main reasons for low budget utilization are the difficulty in obtaining building permits due to the lack of local master (zoning) plans and the scarcity of appropriate land reserves in the Arab municipalities; the cost of furniture and equipment for daycare centers, which is not included in the construction budget and which many municipalities in the Arab sector are unable to finance; the difficulty in dealing with a complex bureaucracy in order to obtain government support for constructing a daycare center; and the shortage in relevant professional personnel who can initiate and support the planning and construction process.
In order to overcome these barriers, the researchers recommend modifying the planning rules in order to better suit the complicated reality of Arab society; increasing the resources allocated to the Arab municipalities for the planning and approval of daycare center construction; and adding positions, staffing them and training professional personnel in the Arab municipalities to advance the development of the daycare system.

Accessibility barriers: The low rates of employment among Arab women coupled with the fact that daycare subsidies and acceptance are contingent on the mother’s employment reduce both the chance that Arab infants will be accepted into supervised frameworks and the proportion of families that are eligible for subsidization. Other accessibility barriers include the lack of synchronization between the hours of the framework and the part-time jobs in which many Arab women are employed, physical barriers such as a lack of mobility and public transport which make it difficult to bring children to daycare, the limited distribution of the supervised frameworks in Arab municipalities (and in particular daycare centers); and bureaucratic and technological barriers that make it difficult to apply for subsidization.

The measures that can overcome barriers to access include cancelling the conditioning of subsidization on the employment of the mother, which would begin as a pilot in a number of municipalities; carrying out a thorough examination and subsequent simplification of the process to register for a supervised framework and apply for a subsidy; and the creation of a flexible public transport system alongside broader distribution of supervised frameworks in the Arab municipalities.

Economic barriers: Even after subsidization, the cost of attendance is high relative to a mother’s income within the Arab sector. The net median labor income of Arab Israeli mothers of children up to age 4 was about NIS 4,800 in 2018, and at this income level, the cost of tuition ranges from 14% to 54% of her wage (depending on the age of the child and the level of eligibility). Similarly, the relatively low wages of many mothers in the Arab sector means that they do not earn enough to take advantage of the tax credit intended to help finance the cost of infant care; almost two-thirds of Arab working women are not eligible for this benefit. Moreover, many parents in Arab society prefer to register their children for private frameworks, both because they are more flexible and allow their children to attend for half-days and because of their low cost, namely NIS 1,000–1,700 per month for a full day, which is lower than the subsidized cost of supervised daycare for some eligibility levels.

In order to overcome the economic barriers, the researchers suggest several policy options including increasing daycare subsidies to keep tuition under NIS 1,000 per month; examining the possibility of a short day as a pilot in a number of municipalities; changing the mechanism for providing the tax benefit to parents such that the unutilized portion of the tax benefit can be used to reduce the cost of daycare frameworks; and providing tax benefits to employers who finance childcare services for their employees.

A government policy to overcome these barriers will contribute to expanding the accessibility of high-quality education during infancy—a critical period in a child’s development—in one of the most marginalized populations in Israeli society.

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