The question being debated is if the age of a child entering the public school system will be determined by Hebrew date of birth as is the case today, or will the Ministry of Education change over to the Gregorian date. If MK (Yesh Atid) Dr. Adi Koll has her way, the state will shift to using the Gregorian date of birth.

Today, the cutoff date is 9 Teves, based on a law legislated back in 1959. However, with a growing number of Israelis unfamiliar with the Jewish months and calendar, there appears to be an increasingly audible voice among secular families to have their 3-year-old child registered in the public system in line with the child’s Gregorian birth date. Parents explain that children are being prohibited from attending state daycare with friends because the ministry uses the Hebrew calendar. They are forced to pay privately as a result.

There is a bill seeking to ‘close the gap’ between the computation for granting benefits in line with the tax year (Gregorian calendar) and the school year (based on Hebrew date of birth). Supporters of the bill feel the children born in that critical period from December 8th – 31st must be addressed, and an answer to the current unacceptable situation must be found.

The children miss the school year, and as a result, they are not entitled to free education the following September, compelling working parents to pay for private daycare. In addition, in the child’s fifth year the father no longer qualifies for tax benefit points for that child.

Dr. Koll feels that the system must shift to the Gregorian calendar towards syncing with the tax authorities and other agencies, calling the current situation illogical and filled with “bureaucratic mines” since different agencies use different parameters to mark the start and end of the year and ultimately, the parents and children suffer.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)