Only 8 children, 11 million shekels: The move to save education on the northern border

In a large part of the northern border communities, the number of children is still below the standard required for opening a kindergarten, as some residents have not yet returned since the war. However, it was decided to open the frameworks there even with a limited composition, based on the assumption that without a kindergarten it would be difficult to bring back families and attract new ones.

About 11 million shekels will be allocated this year for the operation of 23 kindergartens with sub-standard enrollment. Last year, the move already led to the opening of kindergartens in Margaliot, Dishon, and Zarit.

The 5787 school year will open this week in the north in an unusual reality: in 23 kindergartens in the 'Tnufa' region communities, most of them near the fence, there are currently not enough children to meet the standard for operating a kindergarten. Some of the families have not yet returned to the communities after the war, and in the small communities, it is a limited number of children in each age group anyway. Despite this, the kindergartens will open.

Opening the kindergarten can be the deciding factor in whether to stay

About 11 million shekels were allocated this year to enable their operation — about 476 thousand shekels per kindergarten — in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and the local authorities. The mechanism allows for opening an educational framework even when the number of children is lower than the standard.

Behind the decision is a problem that has occupied the border communities since returning home. Young families find it difficult to return to the north or move to a community that does not have an educational framework for their children. The option of transporting kindergarten children between communities, by organized transport or by parents, is not on the table. But without those families, there are not enough children to justify opening the framework. The special funding is intended to break this cycle: open the kindergarten first, even with few children, in the hope that new families will follow.

For the families themselves, the very opening of the kindergarten can be the deciding factor in whether to stay in the community. Liad Mendel, whose five-year-old daughter will study this year in a kindergarten where there will be only eight children, says that his family had already considered leaving.

"In the last few weeks, we debated whether to move to a community with a kindergarten that would open or stay here and have the child travel every day to another community," he says. "Suddenly the news came that the kindergarten here would open, and the children would also receive personal attention when there are only eight children in the kindergarten in total. We were very happy to hear the news, and the doubt about leaving also went away — we are staying here."

This year the move is expanding to 23 kindergartens

Last year, the model was operated in eight kindergartens. In Margaliot, the kindergarten opened with only seven children. This year, according to Merav Brauner, director of the education department in the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council, the number of children has already doubled to 14 and passed the required threshold.

"The sub-standard funding has great significance," says Brauner. "Last year in Margaliot, there was funding approval with seven children in the moshav and the kindergarten worked, and this encourages growth. This year there will already be 14 children there, which is above the standard. There is great significance in giving an opportunity and encouraging arrival to the place. The same is true in Dishon, where we opened the kindergarten after 14 years."

Also in Zarit, a kindergarten was opened last year, after 21 years in which such a framework did not operate in the community. The kindergarten opened with 14 children, and later ten new families joined the moshav. Last February, the 'Shoshanim' daycare was also inaugurated in Zarit, the first in the community in 22 years.

This year the move is expanding to 23 kindergartens — almost three times the number of kindergartens that were funded this way last year. In Shtula, the kindergarten is expected to open for the first time since October 7, after 12 new families joined the community as part of the absorption processes. In Mattat, a kindergarten will be reopened in a 'forest kindergarten' format, for the first time since the war.

In total, about 15 million shekels have been allocated in the last two years for the operation of 31 frameworks in this format — eight last year and 23 this year. The funding is part of the education chapter in the multi-year plan for the region, which amounts to about 1.4 billion shekels until 2030.

Ram Shmueli, head of the education field in the Tnufa administration, says that the goal is to turn the education system into a central tool in the return of families to the northern communities and the joining of new families. "A kindergarten is much more than a building: it is the junction where a community meets itself every morning, and in the place where it opens, the acquaintance between the veteran and new families also opens. Our goal is clear — that education will be one of the main reasons why families choose to move to the Tnufa region."

Head of the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council and Chairman of the Eastern Galilee Cluster, Beni Ben-Muvhar, added that the opening of the kindergartens is part of the effort to strengthen the communities again: "Quality and uncompromising education from early childhood is a central engine for demographic growth and strengthening our communities."

But beyond the long-term plans and budgets, the test this year will be much simpler: will opening a kindergarten even for seven or eight children help another family decide to return home — and another family to choose to arrive. In other words, returning life to the north begins in early childhood.