Israel to Import 5,000 Foreign Workers to Work as Kindergarten Teachers

In a desperate move to save Israel’s crumbling early childhood education system, officials have announced a radical plan: importing thousands of trained educators from abroad to fill the massive manpower vacuum that is currently forcing hundreds of kindergartens to stay closed every morning.

The announcement came during the annual Economic Conference of the Association of Treasurers, where Haim Bibas, Chairman of the Federation of Local Authorities and Mayor of Modi'in, delivered a scathing indictment of the national government’s failure to manage the education crisis.

According to Bibas, the shortage has reached a breaking point:

1. 5,000 educational assistants are missing from the system every single morning.

2. Hundreds of kindergartens fail to open daily, leaving thousands of parents unable to go to work.

3. The economic ripple effect is devastating, as the workforce is paralyzed by the lack of childcare.

"Something is very wrong at the Ministry of Education," Bibas charged. "I ask the Ministry: is this not your responsibility? Then whose is it? Wake up."

To bridge the gap, the Federation of Local Authorities is currently in high-level negotiations with government ministries and external agencies to recruit 5,000 education graduates from India and Sri Lanka. These workers are expected to be integrated into Israeli kindergartens and schools to provide the necessary support that the local labor market can no longer supply.

While the influx of foreign workers aims to solve the shortage of assistants (siyayot), local officials warn that the rot goes deeper. Dalia Lin, head of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Education Administration, revealed in an interview with Maariv that the city is facing a structural shortage of lead teachers.

"The problem isn't just assistants; it's the teachers themselves," Lin explained. "In Tel Aviv alone, 13 kindergartens have no permanent 'Mother Teacher,' and we are missing five 'complementary' teachers. This means 25 kindergartens are forced to close one day every week because there is simply no one to staff them."

In the interim, local authorities have turned to technology to prevent total paralysis. An app called "HaMesaya’at" (The Assistant) has been launched, acting as a "gig economy" platform for education.

It allows the system to recruit temporary workers instantly.

Currently, 15,000 users are registered, half of whom are students and young people looking for flexible shifts.

The platform bypasses slow-moving government bureaucracy, allowing a "live pool" of workers to fill gaps in real-time.

As the 2026 academic year struggles to stay afloat, the shift toward foreign labor marks a historic and controversial turning point for Israeli education. For the Israeli parent, the question is no longer about the quality of education, it is simply whether the doors will be open when they arrive at the gate tomorrow morning.