The Arab Educational System in Israel: Challenges and Changes

Abstract

Diala Abu-Oksa Eid, The Arab Educational System in Israel: Challenges and Changes [Arabski system szkolnictwa w Izraelu – wyzwania i zmiany]. Studia Edukacyjne nr 56, 2020, Poznań 2020, pp. 435-448. Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISSN 1233-6688. DOI: 10.14746/se.2020.56.24While the Arab minority in Israel has suffered greatly from war events and political definition of the state, its education system has experienced rapid development since the state’s establishment until today. The partial improvement in the level of education of Arab children and youth is evident in qualitative and quantitative indices, as well as in the level of infrastructure of the Arab education system. Nevertheless, socio-economic gaps between Arab and Jewish children and youth continue to exist, and it is apparent that the rate of improvement does not keep pace with the growing needs of Arab society in the field of education. In the last decade, the government has adopted a series of five-year plans for the socio-economic development of Arab minority. However, there is a significant gap between Arab education and Hebrew education in important indicators, such as financial investment per pupil, infrastructure (buildings and classrooms), educational frameworks outside the school hours, and the rate of entitlement to matriculation.At the beginning of the eighth decade of the State of Israel, the real challenge of the Arab education system in Israel is not necessarily quantitative, but qualitative. The more formal and informal educational programs in the Arab educational system will be adapted to the culture of the children and youth integrated into it, the more Arab society will be able to realize its human potential.