Education Ministry reports a 76% jump in the number of Israeli Arab teachers in English, math and science at Jewish state schools • Education Ministry says encouraging data represents “an opportunity for shared life and coexistence among the two sectors.”
Israel Hayom Staff
Israeli Arab teacher show growing interest in Jewish schools [Illustrative]
The number of Israeli Arab teachers working in Jewish state schools has increased by 40% in recent years to reach 588 in the last school year, up from 420 just three years ago, the Walla news website reported Monday.
The jump is the result of an Education Ministry program to integrate Arab teachers of English, mathematics and science, among other subjects, into Jewish schools, reducing the surplus of teachers in the Arab sector and promoting coexistence.
The program, launched in 2013, is run jointly by the Education Ministry’s Teaching Personnel Department and the Merchavim Institute for the Advancement of Shared Citizenship in Israel.
According to Education Ministry figures, the school subjects with the biggest jump — 76% — in the number of Arab teachers are English, math and science. The number of Arab teachers instructing Arabic language classes at state schools also increased by 40% from 2013 to 2016.
However, despite the encouraging numbers, a poll published in Walla three months ago revealed that 21% of Jewish parents would oppose having an Arab teacher for their children.
The survey found that 30% of parents would prefer a Christian Arab over a Muslim Arab teacher, 40% said they would accept an Arab teacher from either religion, and only 1% would prefer a Muslim teacher.
Eyal Ram, the head of the Education Ministry’s Teaching Personnel Department, said the integration program seeks to provide “an opportunity for a shared life and coexistence among the two sectors, and to offer a viable solution for the surplus of teachers among the Arab sector and for the shortage of English, math and science teachers among the Jewish sector.”
25% non jews (I don’t know what margin of error is about Wikipedia statistics), now they will teach jewish children Nakba in larger numbers.
So much about Jewishness of Israel…
As very surprising as it is some Israeli Arabs do not hate Israel and accept Israel as a good place to live. Their are even some (granted a small amount who profess Zionism).
Some Arabs in Israel look at the rest of the neighborhood and say it is not so bad here. They may not be Zionists but they accept life here and participate in life in a normal fashion have children, raise children, look for work and hopefully find it. Israeli Arabs are found in most professions in Israel.
I think it’s silly idea. It can be illustrated like this… Some years ago, visiting a cousin in Petah Tikva who was a High School teacher of English. he wa regaling me with the absurdities of the Israeli Education Ministry. He had an excellent background, born in Cork City Ireland, educated in England and etc, spoke perfect English, with an impeccable accent…
This is what he told me…. he had been superceded for some of his classes by another English teacher, I should say, teacher of Rnglish. This man’s background was directly Polish, spent most of his lefe there and was educated there. Fluent Yiddish speaker-as was my cousin. I met the man and because of his accent, a combination of Yiddish and, I suppose, Polish, intermixed with cockney English, he was rather difficult to understand, couldn’t pronounce “w” for instance, plus a certain “intonation”…. His students, could not have been much better unless they came from English homes.
Are we going to have a deluge of Hebrew speaking high schoolers all speaking “English” with an Arabic accent. I can visualise the problems of identity these kids will run into later in life when they become profiled during travel. They will be asked if they originally came from Arab countries……. I love it.
Another blundering “Yiddishe Gesheft”.
Bear Klein Said:
All conquered people tend to try to coexist with their conqueror in the absence of an alternative. but why assume as does Eyal that it is anything more than their need to survive? the local muslim arabs have never ruled over the Jews in Israel… it was the british and before them the turks. We can see how Jews live in Muslim nations to see an indication of the “shared life”.
surely if there was a shred of evidence in fact rather than a hopey dreamy jewish projection we would have seen that sometime somewhere. Its not good to base policies on delusions
Ted Belman Said:
but do you infer from their accepting the emplyment that it is an indication of their desire for a “shared life”?
Why does Eyal seek such things when there has NEVER been any reasonable indication that the muslims seek such a thing? This is the sort of thing where those in positions of authority mislead ordinary people. It may or may not be a practical solution to a labor shortage but no one should be encouraged to think it is anything more….. unless you have some supporting evidence to the contrary?
None of the Arab political organizations are interested in having a Jewish State around. Individual Arabs have for a long time however co-existed with Jews successfully.
A couple of months ago I read an article that talked about the huge shortage of teachers for the schools in Israel. At the same time it talked about the huge number of Arab teachers who were unemployed. The article raised the question of the Israeli schools hiring these Arab teachers. I guess they did it. I don’t have a problem with it so long as they stick to the curriculum.
Really? This is very interesting because it has been my conclusion that there is NO interest in any “shared life and coexistence” of the muslims with the Jews. I could consider that concept if there had been any evidence throughout history of muslims seeking a “shared life and coexistence” with the Jews. Of course every day we have star struck Jews throughout the globe waxing poetic about their visions of such “shared life and coexistence” with the muslims but NEVER have I heard such a thing from the muslims. Jews have a loose screw which causes them to perceive hopey dreamey as factual.
When the muslims leave Islam such possibilities can be considered outside of jest.
I feel very confident that this optimistic, unsupported by facts throughout history… hopey dreamy desire of “Eyal Ram, the head of the Education Ministry’s Teaching Personnel Department”…… has NO counterpart among the muslims and resides purely in the hopey dreamy dreams of Eyal Ram. I would also have NOT ONE SHRED OF CONFIDENCE in the ability of Eyal Ram to evaluate facts on any subject in the real world…….
I pity those those parents whose children are subject to the ability of Eyal Ram to perceive facts realistically.