We checked with the leading parties: what do they promise to do with the education system? | Dudi Fatimer
Two weeks until the start of the school year and two months until the elections: what do the leading parties in the polls promise in the field of education - from the status of teachers to the integration of AI in schools, and which of them did not publish a platform at all?
Yashar led by Gadi Eizenkot
The Yashar party places state education, reducing gaps, and empowering educators at the center of its plan, out of criticism of a system that the party claims does not give all of Israel's children an equal starting point for adult life. Yashar seeks to shape a graduate with a consolidated national identity and roots in Judaism and the heritage of Israel, alongside a democratic and civic worldview, scientific and technological literacy, mastery of artificial intelligence, and independent learning ability.
One of the fundamental principles is state education as a common anchor for all of Israel's children. The plan seeks to ensure core studies including Judaism and the heritage of Israel, mathematics, sciences, English, history, and civics, and to create a meeting point between secular, religious, Haredi, and Arab children from a young age.
Among other things, it is proposed to bring Haredi education into the state-Haredi framework, with membership in the state education system being a threshold condition for public funding. It is also proposed to establish a National Council for Education, which will include all streams and will not be dependent on political factors.
At the same time, Yashar seeks to grant school principals broader pedagogical and budgetary autonomy, alongside responsibility, measurement, and transparency. Among the proposed steps: a transition from an hourly basket to a shekel basket, which will allow principals greater flexibility in decision-making.
The status of teachers is also at the center of the plan. An additional employment track for young teachers is proposed, with appropriate compensation and development horizons instead of early tenure, alongside the integration of national-civil service volunteers into the system. It is also proposed to redefine the work week and reduce frontal teaching hours in favor of personal mentoring.
In the field of early childhood, the plan proposes a national quality mark for frameworks, training and supervision by the Ministry of Education, and economic incentives to encourage supervised frameworks. In addition, artificial intelligence literacy is supposed to become a basic skill, and AI should be integrated into teaching, learning, and assessment. For 12th-grade students, they seek to provide a "toolbox for life," including Zionism and values, preparation for the army, leadership, and volunteering in the community.
Likud led by Benjamin Netanyahu
The Likud party does not present a platform at all. The Minister of Education from Likud, Yoav Kisch, presented last week in an interview with the "Maariv Magazine" an education plan based on two central axes: one, adapting the education system to the new world, led by artificial intelligence and scientific subjects, alongside rehabilitating the existing system and deepening it.
According to him, the education system will undergo adaptation to an era in which knowledge acquisition will also be done through personalized learning that combines artificial intelligence. A program in the field is expected to begin next year. Another axis is the integration of special education into the regular education system. The plan includes frameworks that will have up to 20 students in a kindergarten or classroom, a transition to five school days a week, and the integration of special education therapists into the general education system.
In the general curriculum, the continued strengthening of Jewish and Zionist identity will be emphasized. Next year, a new subject called "Heritage Paths" is expected to be introduced in middle and high schools. Financial literacy programs will also be integrated into the system, based on the concept that proper economic conduct is a significant tool for success.
Core studies will undergo technological adaptation: 7th and 8th-grade students will learn English using artificial intelligence. At the same time, the plan emphasizes expanding the use of technology in the system to improve achievements and successfully deal with the challenges of international exams.
Another move is limiting the use of mobile phones in schools. After the ban was applied in elementary schools, the plan is to expand it to middle schools as well.
In higher education, the plan includes expanding accessibility for reservists, alongside strengthening research and fighting "institutional politicization" through the principle of "institutional neutrality." A multi-year national education plan is planned, which will be based on an investment of tens of billions of shekels.
Beyachad led by Naftali Bennett
The Beyachad party places the rehabilitation of the education system at the top of the national priority list, out of the concept that quality education is the infrastructure for Israel's social, economic, and security resilience. The plan seeks to turn the system from centralized and cumbersome into professional, flexible, and decentralized, granting more powers to principals and teachers, alongside a long-term national strategy.
Separating education from politics is at the center of the platform. The party proposes to establish a National Council for Education, which will include educators, academia, humanities, management, parents, and representatives of all streams in education. The council will set a common core curriculum, formulate a strategic plan for the decade, and ensure stability even during changes of governments and ministers of education. About 60% of the curriculum will be a common core, and the rest will allow flexibility for streams, authorities, and schools.
Haredi education is one of the focuses of the plan: Beyachad commits to stop public funding for institutions that do not teach 100% core studies, and to work so that within eight years all Haredi students will study in the state-Haredi stream. At the same time, the party seeks to strengthen state education through a budget addition of billions of shekels and strengthening its Zionist, Jewish, and democratic identity.
A chapter is dedicated to the Arab society, focusing on reducing gaps and providing a horizon for integration into academia and the labor market. The plan includes strengthening Hebrew studies, expanding STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) studies and excellence centers, connecting education to academia and the world of employment, and using education as a tool to deal with violence in Arab society.
The response to the teacher crisis according to the party is raising the entry threshold for the profession, a starting salary of 12,000 shekels per month for a full-time position, professional promotion tracks, mentoring for new teachers, and improving working conditions. Likewise, the party seeks to grant teachers and principals more autonomy, less bureaucracy, and backing against external pressures.
The plan also emphasizes emotional well-being through the addition of psychologists and counselors, multi-professional welfare teams, staff training, and an emergency fund for every school. In cases of extreme violence, principals will be given the authority to distance a student for up to three months, while maintaining educational continuity and professional treatment.
Artificial intelligence, STEM, and innovation are another central pillar: integrating AI from elementary school, fostering critical thinking and digital literacy, expanding studies of data science, computational biology, and computer engineering, strengthening English, and expanding high-tech matriculation tracks.
In the field of early childhood, it is proposed to expand supervised public education from birth, improve salaries and supervision, and ensure within eight years a quality and subsidized framework for every toddler. In addition, intergenerational kindergartens in assisted living and nursing homes are proposed.
In an emergency, the Beyachad party seeks to move from a model of improvisation to a pre-prepared system, with decentralization of decisions to authorities, priority for special education and early ages, small study groups, and preparation for online learning. In academia, the plan includes increasing investment, strengthening independence, fighting the academic boycott, returning researchers from abroad, and adapting higher education to the AI era.
Finally, the platform seeks to connect the school to the community through sports, youth movements, pre-military preparatory programs, informal education, connection between students and senior citizens, and significant preparation for military service and employment.
The Democrats led by Yair Golan
The Democrats party places education at the top of its priorities out of the concept that state education is a central infrastructure for Israeli democracy and for creating equal opportunities. The party seeks to deal with what it defines as a deep crisis in the system, and at the center of the plan is stopping the budgetary discrimination of certain education streams and returning state education to the center.
The Democrats propose to establish a Council for State Education that will give the system stability, professional independence, and protection from political changes, alongside strengthening Jewish-democratic identity. Within this framework, the party seeks to significantly expand the study of democracy and civics in all education streams and grant them a central status alongside subjects like English and mathematics.
Another central component is rehabilitating the status of teachers and principals. The plan includes a reform in the employment structure, dealing with the shortage of teachers, improving their professional status, and increasing the pedagogical independence of teaching staff and school principals. At the same time, the Democrats seek to decentralize powers to local authorities and school principals.
Regarding Haredi education, the party proposes to cancel the special status of party education networks and stop their funding if they do not teach core studies. Instead, the Democrats seek to make state-Haredi education the main track in Haredi society, through establishing new schools, converting existing institutions, and training teaching staff.
The plan also includes a comprehensive rehabilitation of early childhood education through expanding supervised and certified frameworks and raising employee salaries. In addition, the party seeks to increase support for pre-military frameworks and civil society organizations that promote democratic values, out of the concept that education for democracy does not end at the school gate.
The Democrats' plan seeks to turn the education system from a fragmented system influenced by sectoral and political considerations into a state, egalitarian, democratic, and professional system, with greater investment in students and teachers.
Yisrael Beiteinu led by Avigdor Lieberman
The Yisrael Beiteinu party places education and enlightenment at the center of its concept for the future of society and the economy, against the background of what it defines as a significant decline in the quality of education in Israel and the loss of the aspiration for excellence. According to the platform, preparing the young generation for the challenges of the future requires adapting the education system to the requirements of the 21st century, with the goal of growing a new generation of outstanding students, leading academics, and groundbreaking researchers.
At the center is the continuation of the reform in the education system that began during Avigdor Lieberman's tenure as Minister of Finance. Alongside this, it is proposed to replace the existing format of studies and exams in the 12th grade with a year of preparation for adult life, which will include preparation for military or civil service, acquisition of practical skills, professional experience, leadership, and volunteering in the community.
The platform also seeks to expand the managerial independence of school principals, including the possibility of hiring outstanding teachers on personal contracts. The compensation model for teachers will be changed so that it is based on innovation, excellence, and quality of teaching, rather than seniority alone. At the same time, there is talk of strengthening the status and salaries of young teachers.
Yisrael Beiteinu proposes to adapt the holiday calendar in the education system to the holiday calendar in the economy. In the field of content, the platform proposes to enact a core studies law for all of Israel's students. Educational institutions that do not teach the core curriculum in full will not be eligible for government funding.
In addition, the platform seeks to prevent anti-Zionist content from reaching the education system. To this end, a procedure for adapting teachers to the education system and passing a civics test as a condition for joining the teaching profession is proposed. In the field of higher education, the platform proposes to strengthen higher education institutions and significantly increase research and development budgets.
Otzma Yehudit, Shas, and United Torah Judaism did not provide us with their party principles in the field of education despite our requests.
