Israel’s education crossroads: Demographic shifts, teacher quality and the reform debate

For the first time, Orthodox students outnumber secular students among Israel’s first-grade pupils.

Education Ministry data for the 2025/26 school year lists just over 66,000 pupils entering state-secular schools, compared with roughly 72,000 combined in the state-religious and Haredi streams.

Arab, Bedouin, Druze and Circassian schools together account for about 40,000 first graders, bringing total enrollment to just under 180,000.

Demographer Sergio DellaPergola, professor emeritus and former chairman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, explained that these statistics are the culmination of a long trend.

“For many years, we have seen the numbers shifting in this direction; the shift has been gradual but stable,” DellaPergola told J