Subsidized daycares to reopen Sunday after signing deal for government funding

Government-supervised daycares for children up to the age of 3 will open Sunday after a deal was struck over financial compensation due to the coronavirus lockdown and health regulations.

Toddlers are to be divided into groups of up to 17 children in each classroom and the daycares will operate during their usual hours on all weekdays. Children will be allowed to be moved into multi-age classes so that the limits on class size can be maintained, but will not be allowed to be shifted to a different daycare.

Priority will be given to those deemed most in need under the same system used to determine entry into the daycares run by Wizo, Na’amat, Emunah and other organizations, so that some children — some 30 percent, according to Channel 13 — may have to stay home.

Under the agreement, the government will bear the cost of operating the subsidized daycare in the special format. The deal was struck between organizations that run the daycare centers and the Finance, Labor and Welfare ministries.

At the same time, thousands of private daycares are still shut, and their representatives are expected to meet with Treasury officials on Wednesday.

Children aged 3-6 are expected to return to kindergartens and preschools on Sunday in groups of no more than 18. The majority will attend only three days a week so that the limits can be maintained, and there won’t be afternoon programs, meaning the day will end at 2 p.m.

The children will be further divided into two permanent subgroups to operate in separate spaces in the kindergartens and courtyards.

Getting small children into daycare is seen as key to helping parents return to work as the lockdown restrictions ease.

In Israeli schools, grades 1-3 and 11-12 returned to school this week with smaller classes and strict health procedures.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he expects all students will return to classes by the end of the month, while universities and colleges are set to reopen on June 14. Schools will likely have to rotate attendance, as they do not have enough classroom space for all students to maintain social distancing at the same time.

At schools, pupils were divided into groups, each of which, under Education Ministry guidelines, was to remain together for all classes and breaks. Each group was to have dedicated bathrooms as well.

Schools were among the first institutions to shut down in mid-March, a move that was quickly followed by stricter measures that brought the economy to a virtual standstill and forced many to remain at home as the country sought to prevent a large outbreak of COVID-19.

Cabinet ministers on Monday approved a series of measures to ease many of the restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus, among them lifting the 100-meter limit on travel from home for nonessential activities.

A number of changes to the emergency ordinances were effective immediately, such as the reopening of some businesses, while others will not come into force until later in the week.

The government also signed off on directives that certain businesses must adhere to in order to operate, with Netanyahu cautioning Monday night that should infection rates exceed certain caps, the lockdown measures could snap back.

At the same time, ministers authorized an extension of a controversial program allowing the Shin Bet security service to use sensitive personal data to track coronavirus carriers and also extended a nighttime curfew for Ramadan in Muslim-majority communities until May 10.