Tel Aviv Spends NIS 14M on Day Care for Foreign Workers

YERUSHALAYIM
A Group of young Eritrean people close the house which was set on fire In a suspected arson attack in an apartment in Jerusalem inhabited by foreign workers, leaving three people injured. Photo by Noam Moskowitz/ Flash90 *** Local Caption *** שריפה עובדים זרים אריתריאה גזענות אש תקיפה
Eritrean immigrants. (Noam Moskowitz/ Flash90)

The Tel Aviv Municipality is set to open a day care center whose clients will exclusively be the children of foreign workers – many of them illegal – who live in south Tel Aviv. Prospective students and their parents met Wednesday with caretakers to discuss procedure and care.

The project will cost NIS 14 million, but it’s worth it, say city officials – as it will help change the current situation in which children of workers are “warehoused” in small apartments during the day as their parents work. Many of the apartments where the children stay do not have any facilities and are in old, dangerous structures. The building dedicated to the project by the municipality will be able to hold 240 children, ages three months to three years. After that, the children will be admitted to city schools.

The facility will be operated by a private group called Unitaf, which has experience in running after-school clubs and similar child-oriented facilities in Israel. The facility, located next to the new Central Bus Station in south Tel Aviv, will operate from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until 3 p.m. on Fridays.

The city is planning to open more such facilities, officials said, although the process could take some time, as finding an appropriate building that can house children is a challenge and requires numerous permits, as well as the consent of the neighbors. Despite the challenges, the officials said, they expect to be able to complete the project.

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