Ministry of Education (Israel)

The ministry’s remit combines the planning of education services with legislation, institutional oversight, and the licensing of education and teaching professionals.[1] Its responsibilities encompass compulsory-education implementation, financing, construction of educational facilities, and administrative, curricular, and instructional supervision.[4] These functions operate within a system containing both formal education—from pre-primary schooling through academic education—and informal frameworks, including youth activities and adult education.[5]

The education system is organized around Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking institutions with parallel structures and curricula adapted to different languages, cultures, and religions.[5] Within Hebrew-speaking education, state and state-religious schools operate alongside recognized institutions outside the state system, mainly providing ultra-Orthodox education.[5] The ministry’s authority is therefore not identical in every sector: its direct involvement in official state education differs from its more limited role in some state-funded ultra-Orthodox networks.[4]

The ministry’s responsibilities also extend beyond school-age instruction to immigrant language learning, adult educational attainment, special education, and non-formal opportunities for young people.[5][6] Higher education has a distinct statutory framework: the Minister of Education chairs the Council for Higher Education, while the Council itself exercises specified powers over institutional recognition and academic degrees.[7] Culture and sport formerly fell within the ministry’s responsibilities, but those fields are now assigned to the Ministry of Culture and Sport.[3]

The ministry was established in 1949 as the successor to the Jewish National Council’s Education Department, with Zalman Shazar serving as its first minister.[3] It inherited a school network developed and maintained by the pre-state Jewish community, in which Hebrew was the principal language of instruction.[8] Most schools initially belonged to one of four streams: Labor, general, religious, or the independent Agudat Israel system.[3]

The 1949 Compulsory Education Act originally provided nine years of free compulsory education, covering ages five through thirteen.[4] Children could enroll in any of four ministry-approved school networks, and the education minister was authorized to arrange schooling in immigrant transit camps where the act did not apply.[4] The ministry began establishing schools in immigrant and refugee absorption camps and prohibited competing schools there; religious factions objected that pupils could not study Torah as they wished.[3]

Competition over the education of newly arriving immigrant children made the preservation of separate educational networks increasingly difficult after 1948.[4] Disputes over immigrant education prompted a state investigation committee and contributed to the fall of Israel’s first elected government.[4] The scale of immigration also presented practical demands: children arriving from more than seventy countries required additional classrooms, teachers, tailored curricular materials, and short-term instruction in Hebrew and Jewish history.[8] Teacher training and retraining supported both educators working with immigrant pupils and immigrant teachers entering the school system.[8]

The State Education Law was approved on August 12, 1953, with Education Minister Ben-Zion Dinur advocating the legislation.[3][4] Labor and general-stream schools were united in the state education system, while religious-stream schools became the state-religious system.[3] An ultra-Orthodox sector retained an independent, state-funded status, and some other institutions, including kibbutz schools and traditional religious schools, continued receiving state subsidies.[4] Many institutions originating before statehood survived later structural, organizational, legal, and curricular changes.[3]

Historical enrollment illustrates the distribution among Jewish educational streams during the following decades.[9] In 1986–87, approximately 72 percent of Jewish primary-school pupils attended state secular schools, 22 percent state religious schools, and 6 percent yeshivot; the proportions remained broadly similar through secondary education.[9] During the period covered by those figures, Arab education was separately administered by the Ministry of Education and Culture, with curricula emphasizing Muslim, Christian, or Druze subjects.[9]

The scope of publicly supported education expanded beyond the original compulsory-schooling framework.[10] Under the 1979 law, education was compulsory and free from ages five to sixteen; a government directive subsequently began funding free public preschool for three- and four-year-olds in 2013 through phased implementation.[10] The later compulsory-education framework encompasses children aged three through seventeen at the beginning of the school year, comprising three preschool years and grades one through twelve.[11]

The State Education Law of 1953 defines state education through a curriculum approved by, and taught under the supervision of, the Minister of Education.[7] It establishes guiding principles for educational content and procedures, encompassing universal values, Israeli society and heritage, Holocaust remembrance, children’s development, knowledge, science, the arts, physical activity, and culture.[7] Its objectives also include respect for human rights, basic freedoms, democratic values, other people’s cultures and views, peace, and tolerance.[2]

A 2000 amendment added an objective requiring pupils to become acquainted with the language, culture, history, heritage, and traditions of Arab and other population groups in Israel, and “to recognize the equal rights of all Israeli citizens.”[2] The Compulsory Education Law establishes state responsibility for free compulsory education and makes the maintenance of official educational institutions a joint responsibility of the state and local education authorities.[7] Later provisions prohibit discrimination based on ethnic origin and discrimination in pupil acceptance, placement, or advancement.[7]

The two foundational laws address different aspects of educational administration.[5] The Compulsory Education Law covers attendance ages, registration, school zones, the opening and maintenance of institutions, central–local government cost-sharing, and free compulsory education.[5] The State Education Law assigns the state responsibility for an educational framework and uniform objectives, including curricula, institutional recognition and supervision, inspectors, staff, the core curriculum, and enrollment and transfer arrangements.[5]

Subsequent legislation added more specific responsibilities and protections.[5] The Special Education Law of 1988 makes the state responsible for tuition-free special education for children with special needs, while the Long School Day and Enrichment Studies Law of 1997 provides additional teaching and educational hours in designated locations.[5] The Students’ Rights Law of 2000 addresses nondiscrimination, confidentiality, matriculation examinations, and procedures for permanent removal from school.[5] The School Meals Law of 2005 regulates meals for primary-school pupils in places where the long-school-day legislation applies.[5]

The legal framework permits some local and parental influence over curricular additions.[7] At the request of 75 percent of parents, the minister may approve an additional institutional curriculum comprising up to 25 percent of the existing curriculum.[7] A separate provision allows an additional curriculum financed by parents or the local authority.[7]

The ministry’s administrative functions include educational personnel management, organization and financing, and pedagogical and curricular supervision.[4] Its geographic organization has been described through six operating districts: North, Haifa, Center, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and South.[4] At regional level, it coordinates routine operations with local-authority education departments.[4] A 2022 account also identified a nationwide Haredi district and approximately 900 inspectors whose principal task was checking that institutional managers implemented ministry directives.[12]

Responsibilities are shared with local government rather than exercised entirely through the ministry.[7] The ministry is responsible for curricula, educational standards, supervision of teaching personnel, and school construction, while local authorities handle school maintenance and the acquisition of equipment and supplies.[13] Kindergarten and primary-school teaching personnel are ministry employees; upper-grade teachers are employed by local authorities, which receive ministry funding according to school population.[13] A 2022 staffing account additionally described ministry employment of middle-school teachers and employment of high-school teachers by local authorities and education networks, with the ministry setting employment terms and approving hiring or dismissal.[12]

For that publication period, approximately 140,000 of roughly 218,000 teaching personnel were reported as ministry employees.[12] Earlier administrative descriptions likewise placed major decisions on budgets, curricula, and teacher hiring, training, and licensing within the Ministry of Education and Culture, while identifying education among local authorities’ public-service responsibilities.[9] Parliamentary monitoring of the ministry is exercised through the Knesset’s Education Committee.[4]

The school system includes four broad sectors with distinct curricula and textbooks: state, state-religious, Haredi, and Arabic-language schools.[2] In state schools, required subjects account for three-quarters of the curriculum, while state-religious schools combine secular subjects with additional emphasis on Jewish studies.[14] State-school curricula, whether religious or nonreligious, have a required common core, and state-religious schools add religious-study hours.[10] Recognized but unofficial schools, including independent and Ma’ayan HaTorah schools, receive state subsidies and ministry supervision, and mostly teach part of the core curriculum.[10]

The ministry determines curricula in the Israeli-Arab school system, whereas the Haredi system includes institutions in which government does not determine curriculum or hiring.[14] Government-accredited private schools may teach the state curriculum through their own educational approach.[14] These arrangements distinguish direct state provision from recognition, subsidy, and supervision of institutions with differing degrees of independence.[4][10]

Historical statistics show the system’s scale without serving as current enrollment estimates.[5] In 2012/13, approximately 2,008,100 pupils attended pre-primary through upper-secondary education: about 415,000 in public pre-primary, 934,900 in primary, 276,700 in lower secondary, and 381,500 in upper secondary.[5] Enrollment from pre-primary through university totaled about 2,401,000 that year, an increase of 560,000 since 1999/2000.[5] For 2020–21, grades one through twelve contained 2,248,000 pupils, of whom 77 percent attended Hebrew-language schools and 23 percent Arabic-language schools.[2] Within the Hebrew-language group, 55 percent attended state schools, 19 percent state-religious schools, and 26 percent Haredi schools.[2]

The ministry’s approved 2012 budget was approximately NIS 36.3 billion, including NIS 956 million for economic development.[5] Wages accounted for 88.7 percent of its funds, with services, products, and other expenses accounting for 11.3 percent; 24.4 percent of the overall budget was earmarked for participation in local budgets.[5] An undated system-wide estimate placed government financing at 72 percent of education expenditure, with the remainder provided by local authorities and other sources.[13] On March 23, 2026, the proposed ministry budget was nearly NIS 97 billion after Finance Committee approval for consideration by the Knesset plenum, but it still required final approval in second and third readings at that time.[15]

The ministry sets curricula, administers matriculation examinations, and supervises educational institutions.[1] Within a broadly uniform subject framework, it provides materials from which schools can choose study units and teaching resources.[13] Schools have also studied an annual topic of national importance in depth, with examples including democratic values, Hebrew, immigration, Jerusalem, peace, and industry.[13]

Textbooks are approved and recommended by the ministry and, in some cases, drafted by it.[2] A textbook author’s account places a shift toward accepting outside publishers’ submissions for state approval in the mid-1990s.[2] Following a period of limited oversight, the approval procedure used a three-person committee comprising a pedagogy expert, a subject expert, and a ministry representative, whose identities were not disclosed to authors and publishers.[2] For that author’s books, submission, revision, and approval typically took between one and a half and two years.[2]

In 2011, the ministry announced “Adjusting the Education System to the 21st Century,” a program aiming to replace printed schoolbooks with digital books within five years.[16] The announcement included subsidies for replacing printed books and a requirement that, from the 2012–13 school year, books submitted for approval have an additional digital format.[16] The initiative followed a private member’s bill on digital schoolbooks submitted to the Knesset in March 2011.[16]

Civic education is regulated by the ministry and generally taught in grades nine through twelve across public, religious-public, Arab, Druze, and independent Haredi education.[11] Its stated approach emphasizes “what unites all the components of Israeli society” while recognizing the distinctiveness of different social groups.[11] Upper-grade study combines preparation for matriculation examinations with knowledge, understanding, and skills for forming opinions on civic issues; a smaller-scope program also exists for new immigrants.[11]

The ninth-grade civics program provides 42 hours on citizenship, the state, democracy, rights, and government, alongside 18 hours of teacher-selected enrichment.[11] Upper-grade curricula are adjusted to different educational sectors and include 105–115 hours of core and optional topics.[11] The matriculation examination includes a question on one selected topic.[11] Civics teachers require a teaching license, with criteria including subject expertise, competence in teaching methods, and a positive assessment following a classroom visit by the ministry’s civic-education supervisor.[11] Teachers licensed in another secondary-school subject may need an additional civics-methodology course.[11]

Social and moral education also appears in the ministry-designed elementary program “Mafte’ach Ha’lev,” translated as “a key to the heart” and “a key to life in society.”[17] Monthly lessons address subjects such as responsibility, diversity, and charity.[17] Tu Bishvat lessons connect nature and environmental responsibility with the holiday’s national significance and the Jewish people’s relationship with the Land of Israel.[17]

Teacher employment and instructional organization were addressed through two major reforms: Ofek Hadash, or New Horizon, begun in 2008 in pre-primary, primary, and lower-secondary education, and Oz LaTemurah, operating in upper-secondary education from 2011.[5] Ofek Hadash sought to improve teacher pay and status, educational achievement, and support for pupils with difficulties and gifted pupils, including through individual or small-group teaching hours.[5] Oz LaTemurah sought higher achievement and teacher status through a longer teachers’ work week, assessment-based recognition, stronger school leadership, and changes to working conditions.[5]

Special education provisions cover ages three to twenty-one and include teaching, systematic learning, and treatments such as physiotherapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy.[7] A committee appointed by the minister determines eligibility for special-education programs and facilities, which are provided free for that age range.[13] Policy seeks to retain children in mainstream education where possible through additional teaching hours and services, with placement in ordinary classrooms or special-education classes according to need.[18]

The ministry also has responsibilities concerning learning disabilities in post-secondary institutions.[19] A 2014 amendment required the education minister to issue guidelines for recognized assessment methods and the licensing of qualified assessors, and to appoint a commissioner responsible for implementation and assessor licensing.[19] A recognition committee comprising representatives of the Education and Health ministries, the public, and higher-education teaching staff was to evaluate licensing requests, with implementation scheduled to begin on February 1, 2015.[19]

The Adult Education Division promotes lifelong learning across Jewish, Arab, Bedouin, and Druze communities, including new and veteran immigrants and adults with differing levels of prior education.[6] Its activities include Hebrew instruction, courses toward completing twelve years of schooling, development of curricula and learning materials, public awareness, and cooperation with ministries, nonprofit organizations, and public institutions.[6] Its objectives include narrowing adult educational gaps, supporting immigrants’ Hebrew-language and cultural learning, and professionalizing adult education.[6]

By the time of its published brochure, more than 1.5 million adult immigrants had acquired Hebrew skills in ulpan settings run by the division since Israel’s establishment.[6] Beginner courses operated in cities, kibbutzim, and absorption centers, with intensive courses commonly lasting five to ten months.[6] Further courses included advanced Hebrew and occupational terminology, including for medicine.[6]

Non-formal education includes ministry funding for thirteen youth movements.[14] Their educational activities are intended to prepare young people for responsible citizenship through engagement with human rights, civil society, the Declaration of Independence, and respect for others.[14] Alongside these youth frameworks, the ministry’s formal responsibilities encompass post-secondary and academic education.[5] Under the Council for Higher Education Law, the minister chairs the Council, which proposes higher-education and scientific-research development, accredits institutions subject to government approval, permits institutions to open and operate, and authorizes recognized institutions to award degrees.[7] Accredited institutions retain latitude to manage academic and administrative affairs within their budgets.[7]

Equal educational opportunity and increasing matriculation success are among the ministry’s stated policy priorities.[8] Work with university schools of education has sought to align standards with pedagogical practice, promote gender equality, raise teacher status, broaden humanistic curricula, and advance scientific and technological studies.[8] The Secondary Education Division’s stated responsibilities encompass lower-secondary, upper-secondary, four-year, and six-year schools across sectors, including associated grades thirteen and fourteen in some settings.[5]

At the time of the ministry’s historical system report, the division served approximately 560,000 students in roughly 1,240 institutions.[5] Its objectives included narrowing gaps, raising achievement and matriculation eligibility, addressing school violence and behavioral problems, improving assessment and teaching, supporting Hebrew and Arabic, advancing mathematics and science, and cultivating excellence.[5]

Education planning for Arab society formed part of the 2015 five-year development framework.[20] The ministry was to set specific goals for improving Arabic and Hebrew proficiency and increasing participation in higher-level mathematics matriculation success, with emphasis on teacher training, professional development, learning outcomes, and expanded informal education.[20] Funding was divided between government Resolution 922 and Resolution 1560 of May 19, 2016; the latter allocated NIS 5.8 billion and set targets for matriculation eligibility, higher-education eligibility, achievement, and dropout reduction.[21]

Implementation included NIS 200 million invested in professional development and training for Arab teachers and the extension of informal-education activities in 76 local authorities.[21] The second five-year plan, Resolution 550, was approved on October 24, 2021, with an overall budget of NIS 30 billion, including approximately NIS 9.4 billion designated for education.[21] It allocated NIS 6 billion toward educational gaps and emphasized Hebrew and digital literacy for Arab pupils.[21]

Peace education became a central curricular theme in the late 1990s.[2] In 2013, the Justice and Education ministries jointly developed “Preventing Racism, Violence, and Incitement,” implemented during the 2013–14 school year as part of a wider approach moving from tolerance toward racism prevention and living together.[22] The initiative extended across educational sectors, age groups, and educational staff.[22] A new eighth-grade history unit on preventing racism was introduced in 2019–20.[2]

The extent to which the 1953 State Education Law unified previously divided educational streams has remained a subject of scholarly disagreement, alongside the continuing distinction between religious and nonreligious state education.[17] Sectoral autonomy is another significant issue: a 2022 scholarly account characterized the public system as centralized, while identifying substantial organizational and curricular autonomy for religious Jewish groups without comparable autonomy for Arab state schools.[23] It linked educational inequality with broader economic inequality and identified continuing gaps in graduation rates, fields of study, and institutional quality.[23]

Reviews of particular initiatives have identified incomplete implementation.[21] Most stated education objectives of the Resolution 922 framework were not achieved, including narrowing science and technology, mathematics, and English test-result gaps and increasing matriculation eligibility; Arabic test-result targets were achieved and dropout declined.[21] Available ministry data did not provide a complete picture of the investment’s effect on achievement, and education-budget gaps between Arab and Jewish society persisted despite nominally increased investment for Arab society.[21]

Anti-racism policy has also faced criticism over scope and implementation.[22] A study of the 2013–14 curriculum criticized its failure to address the Arab–Jewish divide as a nationally important issue and the direction of some Bedouin-heritage and Islamic-tolerance material toward Arab rather than Jewish schools.[22] A 2021 State Comptroller evaluation found some objectives of the “Education for Coexistence and the Prevention of Racism” initiative behind schedule.[2]

In 2019, the Central Elections Committee ordered removal of a ministry website message concerning a minister’s claim to have reduced classroom sizes, treating it as election propaganda.[24] The order also required removal of the minister’s name from references to ministry programs and emphasized accuracy and legal review of public-authority communications, particularly during election periods.[24]