The issue of parents of school-age children paying for various educational and other extra-curricular activities is one that CBOS has been looking at since 1998. Up until now a large part of all parents did not send their children to participate in such activities. Currently, however, as many as 61% of those asked have declared that at least one of their children is attending extra-curricular, paid classes (in school or out of school) or will start in this school year. The rise in the percentage of families intending to pay for their children’s participation in such activities, in or out of school, is directly linked with an increase in the percentage of school-age children attending these classes, since a decided majority of parents who have decided to pay for their children’s extra-curricular activities intend to do this for all of their children (82% of this group, which amounts to 49% of all those with school-age children, compared to 40% in 2015-16). Most parents (39%, up 9 percentage points from last year) intend to send their children to paid sporting activities.

More on this subject in the forthcoming CBOS report.