Israel's Education System Faces Severe Staff Shortages Ahead of New School Year

As Israel's new school year begins with 2.6 million students returning to classes without strike threats, new data reveals a significant crisis in the education system. The Ministry of Education is grappling with a severe shortage of qualified personnel, leading to the employment of thousands of teachers without proper training and the closure of hundreds of kindergartens.

This year, 8,000 teachers will be working without adequate training, some lacking teaching certificates or teaching subjects outside their expertise. This represents a substantial portion of the teaching staff, exacerbating the existing deficit of 5,000 teachers. The situation is particularly acute in early childhood education, where the ministry was forced to close 420 kindergartens due to a lack of staff, an increase from the 320 closed last year.

These closures have resulted in increased class sizes, with the number of children per kindergarten rising from an average of 27 to 35. School principals have also reported being pressured by the Ministry of Education to conceal the extent of the teacher shortage by not inputting data about missing staff into the system.

Adding to the concerns, a recent public opinion poll indicates widespread dissatisfaction with the education system. Sixty-eight percent of respondents rated the system as "poor," while only 25% gave it a "good" rating. The poll also revealed low confidence in the current Education Minister, Yoav Kisch, with 63% of respondents believing he should not continue in the role in the next government, a sentiment shared by 40% of voters within the current governing coalition's bloc.