East Jerusalem - Post Report Question and Answers
Are preschools available? Day care? Are these expensive? What has been your experience with them, if any? Do the schools provide before- and/or after-school care?
There are lots of day care centers opening up in East Jerusalem. They will take young infants and don't charge too much (600-1,000 shekels/month for full-time). They vary wildly in quality and the quality seems to have little bearing on the price. But beware the best ones have waiting lists to get in (we learned this too late), so make sure you sign up well in advance of when you need your child to start. To find them, drive along the Beit Hanina-Shuafat road and you will see signs for a half dozen day care centers. This is how we found ours. We had tried asking colleagues for advice -- no luck that way. Beware that the day care centers will only stay open until about 4 p.m., although if you pay extra then one of the employees will probably be willing to stay late to look after your child. This is the best option we could find. Full-time nannies are not easily found in East Jerusalem -- at least we couldn't find one. - May 2006
