According to According to the Jerusalem Post, for the first time ever, Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch plans to conduct mandatory Hebrew testing for Arabic-speaking students.
The tests will be conducted in one-third of schools annually for 6th-grade students as of 2025 and 9th-grade students as of 2026. According to the Education Ministry, the move is being made in response to the declining results of Arabic-speaking students in language-based subjects and in light of Hebrew’s “importance for integration into Israeli society, academia, and the labor market.” Previously, the tests were not mandatory for schools and were conducted on a representative sample of classes only.
The Hebrew for Life program will operate in all educational frameworks for Arab and Bedouin societies, from first grade to twelfth grade. At the same time, the ministry is promoting the recognition of Hebrew studies as a mandatory subject in Arab education.
“Proficiency in the Hebrew language is a necessary condition for the integration of the Arab community into the fabric of Israeli society,” said Kisch.
“Low proficiency in the language is a significant barrier for students. Our goal is to remove the barriers facing students to ensure their future in academia and the job market.”
Last year’s passing of a law that removes Arabic as an official language in Israel has upset the country’s Arab minority, who have criticized the legislation.
There are roughly 1.8 million Arabs in Israel, making up about a fifth of the state’s population. They are mostly Palestinians and their descendants who remained in place after the 1948 war between Arabs and Jews. Hundreds of thousands of others were displaced or fled.
