Early Childhood Council Law, 5777-2017

The purpose of this Law is to promote the care of young children and their physical and intellectual development, to ensure their physical and mental health and the fulfilment of their educational, social, physical and emotional needs, and to provide them with suitable conditions and an appropriate and adapted care-educational environment, which will enable them equality of opportunity in their adult lives.

In this Law –

"early childhood" – from birth until the commencement of studies in Grade 1;

"the Ministerial Committee" – the Ministerial Committee for Early Childhood Affairs established pursuant to the provisions of section 18;

"annual budget law" – as its meaning in the Budget Foundations Law, 5745-1985;

"institution of higher education" – as defined in the Student Integration in the Education System Law, 5765-2005;

"the Council for Higher Education" – as its meaning in the Council for Higher Education Law, 5718-1958;

"the field of early childhood" – including the following subjects: education and special education, health including preventive medicine, mother-and-child health clinics and child development frameworks, welfare, educational and care frameworks and the development of such frameworks, early childhood centres, nutrition, leisure, parental guidance, safety and poverty reduction, all where they relate to early childhood;

"the Minister" – the Minister of Education.

There is hereby established the Early Childhood Council (in this Law – the Council), which shall operate within the framework of the Ministry of Education.

The functions of the Council are:

The Council may appoint advisory committees, from among its members and from outside its members, for a period and for purposes that it shall determine, and appoint chairpersons for those committees, all in accordance with a procedure to be determined by the Council.

The Council may invite experts and knowledgeable persons on professional matters to its deliberations, or request opinions from them, if it considers that this is necessary for the purpose of formulating its position.

The existence of the Council, its powers, the validity of its decisions and its actions shall not be affected by reason of a vacancy in the seat of one of its members.

The composition of the Council shall give adequate expression, in the circumstances of the matter, to the representation of all population groups in Israeli society, including the population groups enumerated in section 15a(a) of the State Service (Appointments) Law, 5719-1959; without derogating from the foregoing, at least one of the members of the Council shall be from the ultra-Orthodox population and at least one – from the Arab population.

"interested party" – as defined in the Securities Law, 5728-1968;

"dealing" – including making a decision, raising a matter for discussion, being present at a discussion, participating in a discussion or vote, or engaging in a matter outside a discussion;

"personal interest", of a member of the Council – including a personal interest of the member's relative, an interest of a corporation in which the member or the member's relative is an interested party, an interest of a body in which the member or the member's relative serves as a director or responsible employee, or an interest of a partner, employer or employee of the member or of the member's relative;

"relative", of a person – spouse, parent, grandparent, son or daughter and their spouses, brother or sister and their children, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, uncle or aunt and their children, father-in-law, mother-in-law (paternal), father-in-law, mother-in-law (maternal), son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandson or granddaughter, including step-relations, and any person dependent on the person.