education in Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at his side, and other coalition ministers and MKs celebrate the passage of the state budget in the Knesset, May 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Analysis

Netanyahu’s fat man, thin man and the burden of the new state budget

As more funds are funnelled to the ultra-Orthodox community, other budgets for investment in high-tech are reduced; reforms for tackling high cost of living are suffering

May 24, 2023, 11:13 pm

Netanyahu’s fat man, thin man and the burden of the new state budget

As more funds are funnelled to the ultra-Orthodox community, other budgets for investment in high-tech are reduced; reforms for tackling high cost of living are suffering

By Sharon Wrobel

An illustrative photo of a classroom in Modiin on January 30, 2022. (Flash90)

May 16, 2023, 3:01 pm

‘We’ve gone back 20 years’: Reading proficiency in Israel down markedly after COVID

Fourth-graders suffer one of the worst drops in performance among OECD states in new international assessment of literacy levels

By ToI Staff

File: Ultra-Orthodox children on the first day of school in Neve Yaakov in Jerusalem, August 9, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90/File)

February 26, 2023, 11:50 pm

Haredi education budget said raised by 40%, but UTJ laments promises not fulfilled

Party reportedly threatening to oppose state budget if funding equalized with non-Haredi schools; Channel 12 says treasury officials don’t remember a hike of this size

By ToI Staff

February 24, 2023, 9:01 am

Teacher suspended for leading class discussion on judicial overhaul plan – report

School administration accuses Amir Kliger of ‘incitement’; Education Ministry has warned teachers to refrain from voicing political opinions in class

By Harry Roper

Parents at a school in north Tel Aviv participate in nationwide demonstrations against the proposed judicial overhaul, February 9, 2023 (Courtesy)

February 9, 2023, 11:08 am

Parents, students protest judicial overhaul; major highway blocked

Hundreds take part in rallies in several locations around the country against government’s plans; at Hakfar Hayarok youth village demonstrators close road leading into Tel Aviv

By ToI Staff

Minister within the Education Ministry Haim Biton arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on January 22, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/FLASH90)

February 9, 2023, 3:41 am

Ultra-Orthodox minister says public should ‘be afraid’ of growing community size

Participants in local authorities’ education conference walk out as Haim Biton claims high Haredi birth rate has defeated alleged efforts to suppress community

By ToI Staff

Shas leader Aryeh Deri, the Minister of Interior and Health, with supporters outside his home in Jerusalem on January 18, 2023, hours after the High Court said he cannot hold ministerial office. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

January 22, 2023, 5:33 am

Tragically, Deri’s ‘great revolution’ will continue even if he can’t outflank court

Shas leader is vowing to keep championing ‘the poorer echelons,’ but he and his ultra-Orthodox colleagues do the opposite — with calamitous consequences, as the PM well knows

By David Horovitz

Deputy Minister Avi Maoz seen during a vote in the assembly hall of the Knesset, on December 28, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

January 16, 2023, 4:13 am

Cabinet okays far-right MK Maoz as overseer of external programming at schools

In response to openly homophobic politician’s appointment, some 160 academics join registry of lecturers willing to come to schools to speak free of charge

By ToI Staff

Children at the Bi'ne B elementary school near Deir el-Asad in northern Israel crowd around an iguana, November 28, 2022. (Sue Surkes/Times of Israel)

December 10, 2022, 9:29 am

From K-12 and beyond, Israeli children learn they can help the rainforests to heal

Education program based on study and action engages students by having them campaign for one of three endangered ‘biodiversity hotspots’ — and helping to save the winner

By Sue Surkes

Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton attends an emergency conference on the 'liquidation sale' of the education system in the Knesset on December 6, 2022 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

December 6, 2022, 2:45 pm

Alarmed education officials warn ministry will be ‘dismantled’ under new government

As departments divvied up among parties, PM leads emergency Knesset meeting on ‘stopping education system’s liquidation’; Likud MK likens left to Hanukkah story’s reviled Antiochus

By ToI Staff

MK Avi Maoz, left, and Likud head Benjamin Netanyahu after signing a coalition deal on November 27, 2022. (Courtesy, Likud)

December 4, 2022, 1:08 pm

Lapid assails deal with anti-LGBT MK; Likud sources signal Netanyahu may stall on it

As backlash intensifies, unnamed party officials say deal with far-right Noam chief Avi Maoz won’t be nixed, but transfer of key education powers may be delayed in hope he’ll quit

By ToI Staff

December 3, 2022, 11:30 pm

Likud on back foot as dozens of towns say won’t let anti-LGBT MK dictate education

Netanyahu said planning to tightly control Avi Maoz’s programming after public outcry; Lapid launches hotline to help schools avoid far-rightist’s ‘dark, homophobic doctrine’

By ToI Staff

Secondary School Teachers' Association chief Ran Erez speaks at an education conference by The Marker business newspaper in Kiryat Ono, August 24, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

October 23, 2022, 8:55 pm

High school teachers’ association threatens job action over lack of wage agreement

Starting Tuesday, teachers will not participate in activities after school hours; association head says measures meant as a ‘warning’ at this point

By Tobias Siegal

Illustrative: Students at the Ramon School in Modi'in, on October 12, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

September 23, 2022, 2:44 am

Half of Israeli 7th-11th graders say studies suffered due to COVID

Education Ministry survey of pedagogic, social and emotional impacts of pandemic also finds many in younger grades feel schools got better during coronavirus years

By ToI Staff

Illustrative: Young Bedouin students study together at the library of their high school in the Bedouin city of Rahat in southern Israel, February 16, 2014. (Hadas Parush/Flash 90)

September 13, 2022, 3:05 pm

Druze lead Israel in high school matriculation; Haredi, Bedouin schools lag behind

Data released a day after Netanyahu agrees to full funding for ultra-Orthodox schools that don’t teach core curriculum, if he regains premiership

By Tobias Siegal