Israeli Matriculation Exam Pass Rates Rise to 77.9% Amid War, With Stark Urban Disparities
Translated & summarized from Maariv by baba
Israel's national matriculation exam pass rate rose to 77.9% in the 2024/25 academic year, with Givatayim and Ramat Hasharon showing the highest success rates. However, stark disparities persist, particularly in Haredi cities like Modi'in Illit and Bnei Brak, which reported very low pass rates. The report also highlighted significant differences in IDF enlistment rates across different communities. Despite these challenges, overall pass rates and distinguished student achievements have increased, while dropout rates have declined.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Israel's matriculation exam pass rate reached 77.9% in 2024/25, an increase amid the ongoing war.
- Givatayim and Ramat Hasharon reported the highest pass rates, exceeding 96%.
- Haredi cities like Modi'in Illit and Bnei Brak showed critically low pass rates, below 15%.
- IDF enlistment rates varied dramatically, with some cities reaching 100% and others below 10%.
- Distinguished student achievements increased, and national dropout rates decreased.
- The gender gap in matriculation pass rates has significantly narrowed.
Despite ongoing conflict, Israel's national matriculation exam pass rate has increased to 77.9% for the 2024/25 academic year, with a rise in distinguished student achievements and a decrease in dropout rates. The Ministry of Education's "National Educational Picture" report for high schools, covering the second full year of the war, shows approximately 461,000 students in grades 10-12, with 130,070 in 12th grade pursuing matriculation. About 39.3% of these students were enrolled in technological tracks.
Givatayim and Ramat Hasharon lead the nation in pass rates, with 97.9% and 96.7% respectively among those taking the exams. Several smaller communities in the north, including Gush Halav, Hurfeish, and Sakhnin, also show high pass rates. In contrast, Jerusalem's pass rate stands at 51.7%. Significant disparities are evident in Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) cities, where pass rates are considerably lower. For instance, in Modi'in Illit, only 4.5% of students passed, with just 43 out of 984 test-takers earning a diploma. In Bnei Brak, 14.5% passed, and in Beitar Illit, 14.9%.
The report also details IDF enlistment rates. Tel Mond led in male enlistment at 100%, while Omer led in female enlistment at 100%. Jerusalem reported low enlistment rates, with 37% of males and 24% of females enlisting. In Bnei Brak, enlistment was as low as 7% for males and 1.3% for females.
While Haredi educational institutions showed a slight increase in pass rates from 26.7% to 27.6% in the past year, this is still considered very low compared to the Arab sector, where pass rates rose from 78.3% to 83.9%. The rate of students achieving distinguished matriculation certificates rose to 14.4% in 2024/25, with the number of distinguished students increasing by over 2,200 to 18,743. The gender gap in pass rates has narrowed, with boys' pass rate at 78.4% and girls' at 77.4%, a significant improvement from a 3.4% gap in favor of girls in 2020. National dropout rates have decreased to 0.8%.
Pass rates for advanced 5-unit courses in subjects like math, English, and physics/computer science also saw an increase, with 11.6% of students passing these advanced tracks. Specifically, 48.7% passed 5-unit English and 17.1% passed 5-unit math.
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