The new school year faces two major challenges. The first is Israel’s efforts over the years to introduce universal subject matter into the ultra-Orthodox educational system, but to no avail. The second is Israel’s insistent declarations that it is striving to bridge the deepening gap between students in the center of the country and students on the periphery.

According to data published by the Ministry of Education on Sept. 2, schools in more affluent towns and villages were found to produce more students eligible to receive a matriculation certificate than schools on the periphery. Based on this division, Arab settlements are ranked at the bottom of the list of educational achievements, except in the rarest of incidents.

Academics who study the educational system claim that the vastly divergent outcomes are the result of Israel’s capitalist lifestyle. This year, Israel’s educational system is once again contending with a rapid process of privatization. On paper at least, every child in Israel is entitled to free education from the age of three, but the reality is very different. Israel’s educational system is like a department store, offering its best products to anyone who is willing to up the price. Those who pay more, get more. Those who can’t afford to pay, lag behind. 

The figures published by the Ministry of Education this week reflect the bleak results of this privatization process. According to the data, less than 50% of students in development towns in the north and south of the country are eligible to matriculate, while Arab settlements, as it has already been noted, lag far behind. At the bottom of the list were the Arab towns of Kafr Qassem and Jisr az-Zarqa, where only two out of 10 students were eligible to receive a matriculation certificate this year. In more affluent towns throughout the country, the results are completely different, with eight or nine out of every 10 students eligible to matriculate.