Israeli Education System Prepares for 2.6 Million Students in 2025 School Year
The Israeli education system is preparing to welcome approximately 2.6 million students for the 2025-2026 academic year, according to data presented on Thursday at the Knesset Education Committee. Of these students, around 2,082,000 will be enrolled in grades 1 through 12, while about 529,000 children will attend kindergartens. Additionally, 225,845 toddlers are expected to be in daycare centers.
A significant focus is on special education, with roughly 418,000 students, or 16% of all students, eligible for special education services. This highlights the challenge of providing tailored support, integrating students into regular education frameworks, and allocating professional staff accordingly.
The education system will operate through nearly 28,000 institutions, including 5,957 schools and 21,800 kindergartens, totaling about 89,000 classrooms nationwide. There are also 5,143 supervised daycare centers. The workforce will comprise approximately 260,000 education employees, including 228,000 teachers, 27,400 kindergarten teachers, and 5,957 principals.
The committee discussion also covered informal education, noting the operation of 3,569 youth movement branches with hundreds of thousands of participants, alongside 5,159 frameworks for youth employment and placement. These figures underscore the extensive scale and complexity of Israel’s education system as it prepares for the upcoming school year.
