Just half of HS students pass matriculation exam

Just over half of Israeli high school students achieved the scores necessary to receive their Bagrut certificate — the national matriculation test that 12th-graders are required pass in order to graduate.

Only 52.7% of year 12 students up to and including the age of 18 received their matriculation certificates for 2015 — up from 46.1% last year.

Students are eligible to retake their exams following high school and owing to high failure rates, many do so.

When the statistics are weighted to include those over 18 who resat their exams following high school, the number that qualify for a certificate jumps to 65.5% — up from 57.8% last year.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett weighed in on the results: “Better matriculation scores aren’t simply an educational endeavor — they’re a national one,” he says.

“The Israeli economy of tomorrow is the matriculation certificate of today,” Bennett adds.