Only 22% of Israeli 9th graders met English requirements in latest tests, sparking alarm over education system

Only 22 percent of Israeli ninth graders met the requirements of the English language curriculum in Israel, according to results of the National Authority for Educational Measurement and Evaluation (RAMA) held in 2024-25.

The poor results, released today, have sparked widespread concern over Israel’s education system, amid several years of disruptions to learning, including the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers’ strikes, and wartime closures.

Only 9% of students at Arab-speaking schools met the English language requirements, compared to 27% in Hebrew-speaking schools, according to the results of the standardized test given to all ninth-grade students.

The worst results were observed in southern Bedouin communities, with 86% of students demonstrating low levels of English proficiency, and only 1% meeting the curriculum requirements.

In their first participation in the exams, only 7% of Haredi students met the English requirements, compared to 16% in the national religious system and 31% in the Hebrew secular system.

English has been taught less in schools since 2020, with five hours a week of lessons at most, curricula have been frequently changed, and there is an acute shortage of English teachers, according to the National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education.

In tests in their mother tongue, only 38% of ninth graders met the requirements; 19% of students at Arab-speaking schools and 44% in Hebrew-speaking schools.

Three hundred and eighteen schools, and a total of 30,256 students, took part in the tests.