Education is the most salient aspect in every society because of its capacity to preserve and transfer social and cultural values. However, despite the passage of more than half a century since the occupation of Palestine and the unlawful inception of the Zionist regime, the Israeli education system has been unable so far to achieve cultural and social cohesion with Israel’s existing cultural and social realities.
In addition, Israel’s educational system fails to indoctrinate a shared set of values and create a social bond among Israeli pupils, which could foster a sense of national unity across diverse Jewish groups.
This predicament is exacerbated by the fact that the majority of Israeli society consists of immigrants from other countries and, therefore, unique socio-cultural attributes.
Numerous educational systems in Israel reflect numerous immigrant communities from Western and Eastern Europe and the Middle East with distinct ideologies and agendas.
Diverse education systems reflecting different immigrant communities from Western and Eastern Europe and the Middle East bring their unique ideas and goals to classrooms. Therefore, forging a united and homogenous society from inhabitants with diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds seemed unattainable.
These social obstacles manifest themselves as isolated and incompletely closed communities inside Israel, illustrating that each of these communities harbours entrenched cultural prejudice towards the others and does not unite, much less produce a proud Jewish Zionist citizenry.
For instance, marginalised immigrants such as Ethiopians [Falash Mura] have never been treated equally, and biased attitudes against this 140.000-person community are omnipresent across Israeli society.
The Jewish Ethiopians are disgruntled with the discriminatory housing and education policies of the Zionist regime, as well as the high unemployment rate in their community.
On the other hand, as economic and social fault-lines widen in Israeli society, it has been reported that there is a scarcity of teachers in schools that serve low-income populations compared to those attended by higher-income populations.
About 5.77% of principals estimate that the teacher and instructor shortage this year is much worse than in the preceding years. Approximately 63.1% of headmasters said the deficit would have catastrophic consequences for students throughout the next school year.
The provided data suggests that, based on the stages of education, primary schools have the highest shortage of teachers, requiring 2,351 instructors. In addition, there is a shortage of 1,245 teachers in higher education.
Furthermore, there is a shortfall of 1,103 teachers in special education, where children with disabilities require specific accommodations.
In addition, 855 high school teachers and 117 kindergarten teachers are needed. In addition, there is a shortage of 1,495 teachers, including 871 English teachers, 352 mathematics teachers, and 332 Hebrew language teachers. Data suggests that Tel Aviv has the largest teacher shortfall, with 1,847 instructors.
Also, on the eve of the start of the new school year in occupied territories, a study divulged the extent to which families are under economic strain to purchase the school supplies their children need.
Due to the high expense of school supplies, 6.46 % of Zionist parents cannot afford to purchase items for their children, and 28% have had to restrict spending on their children’s stationery products.
In addition, 26% of parents expressed concern that their children would feel financially inferior compared to their classmates. 34% of respondents reported that the heaviest item in their shopping cart is the required item for every student, the school backpack.
