MK Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) has proposed a bill for free "education" from age three months - with a clause that daycare would become mandatory as soon as the paid portion of the mother's maternity leave is up.
Legal maternity leave is six months, but only 15 weeks are paid; the rest is unpaid. As a result, most working women return to work at just more than three months postpartum. It is from this age, three months, that daycare is subsidized for those who are eligible.
The bill aims to expand Israel's Compulsory Education Law to provide free and regulated "education" for all infants from the age of three months. Under the bill, a special curriculum would be developed to provide for the children's cognitive, emotional, social, and motor development.
The purported purpose of the bill is "to ensure that every infant and child in Israel receives proper and quality education, regardless of their family's economic status."
In its introduction, the bill stresses the importance of helping every child achieve his or her full potential and reducing the gaps between the different classes in society, even before they are created. Mainly, the bill aims to ease the burden on working parents, especially working mothers, and allow parents to better integrate into the workforce.
Kikar Hashabbat quoted Porush as claiming that the bill is based on "research proving the importance of early childhood education in children's later success, reducing social gaps, and increasing the percentage of people integrated into the workforce."
Under the proposed amendment, the Compulsory Education Law would be extended to include children from age three months to three years old, with the State of Israel assuming full responsibility for funding, operating, and supervising early childhood education frameworks. Currently, every child must be enrolled in a childcare center from the school year in which they would turn three by December 31. Parents who do not wish to enroll their three-year-old in childcare must request and receive approval to homeschool; such approval is not guaranteed even for those requesting it.
These institutions would be required to meet pedagogical, safety, and sanitary standards and would operate under the supervision of the Education Ministry and other relevant government ministries.
The proposed legislation is expected to challenge the current government. If passed, it would also address the issue of daycare funding for the families of draft-dodging married yeshiva students, which was halted following a directive from the Attorney General.
The idea to fully fund daycare for infants is not new: It was first suggested a few years ago, and in 2020 the Blue and White party adopted it as part of the party's platform.
Daycare for ages three months to three years is heavily subsidized, and government discounts are provided based on income per person and the number of hours a mother works. In the case of same-sex parents, the partners can choose which parent is listed as the mother, making it easier for them to receive the discount.
It is not yet clear if the free education for ages 0-3 will become mandatory, the way preschool for three- and four-year olds became mandatory six years after the implementation of the, "Free Education From Age Three" law.
That law was passed with a section that "education" for children ages three and four would become mandatory within six years, but the section was hidden from the public, and the law was instead touted as one which would save parents thousands of shekels annually.
The law was not immediately enforced after a six-year period, however, and only in the past few years have municipalities begun to interfere when parents choose not to send their young children to preschool or choose to send them to a private instead of public framework.