Knesset Committee on the Status of Women Summons Ministries for Questioning

The system of subsidized day-care centers in Arab society is experiencing a severe crisis due to ongoing delays and structural obstacles in approving subsidy levels and transferring budgets for the current academic year. Hundreds of day-care centers serving thousands of children and families are operating under conditions of financial and administrative instability, which directly affects women’s employment and the continuity of these frameworks.

Last week, the Mossawa Center, on behalf of Yanbu‘ Association—a network of subsidized day-care centers in Arab society—submitted an urgent request to the Ministries of Welfare and Industry to transfer the allocated budgets. Nibal Ardat, Coordinator of Legal and Parliamentary Advocacy Programs at the Mossawa Center, also approached the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women and Gender Equality, with the aim of holding the ministries accountable, removing obstacles, and reaching an immediate solution to the crisis.

Despite repeated appeals to the Ministries of Labor and Education, thousands of applications for subsidy levels have remained pending for many months under the status “received and awaiting processing,” alongside disregard by government service centers. This situation undermines the professional management of the day-care centers.

In the absence of officially approved subsidy levels, many centers are forced to cover funding gaps from their own resources or through loans in order to ease the burden on parents amid the worsening economic crisis. This reality threatens the financial stability of the centers, places them at risk of closure, and directly harms the livelihoods of hundreds of women, many of whom are primary breadwinners.

The Mossawa Center emphasizes that harm to day-care centers is a direct blow to women’s ability to integrate into the labor market and to children’s right to a stable educational environment. Accordingly, Samar Bassiouni, Director of the Yanbu‘ Association, calls for immediate intervention by the Knesset and the government, including the urgent publication of subsidy levels, the establishment of an effective mechanism for processing funding applications, and the prompt transfer of financial entitlements—warning that the crisis will worsen if the current situation persists.