Israel: In 30 years, 1 in 3 students will be ultra-Orthodox - report

A new study showed that by 2060 Israel will experience a significant increase in the number of ultra-Orthodox students. 

The report titled “Student forecasts for the education system for the years 2025 to 2060” was published this week by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. According to the survey, the student population from ultra-Orthodox community is expected to increase by more than 246 percent and amount to 31.9 percent of all students by 2060.

Israeli kindergartens will also see their attendance rise by 100.5 percent, an increase of 199,000 pupils compared to this year. The report pointed to the urgent need to train teachers to cope with this exponential increase in the number of students.

The Jewish state, which already faces a shortage of teachers at present, should, according to the conclusions of the report, at least double the number of educators. Low salaries, as well as difficult working conditions and the lack of recognition partly explain this lack of staff, the consequences of which could be felt very soon.

There are expected to be more than 5 million students in Israel within 30 years - up from around 2.5 million in 2023. The education sector in Arab schools is also expected to see an rise of about 161,000 students, or 35.7 percent increase.

The report pointed to the urgent need for the Israeli government to implement strategies to deal with this announced shortage of teachers and to anticipate structural changes that will be needed to educate that many students.