The Ministry of Education (, translit. Misrad HaHinukh; ) is the branch of the Israeli government charged with overseeing public education institutions in Israel. The department is headed by the Minister of Education, who is a member of the cabinet. The ministry has previously included culture and sport, although this is now covered by the Ministry of Culture and Sport.
History
In the first decade of statehood, the education system was faced with the task of establishing a network of kindergartens and schools for a rapidly growing student population. In 1949, there were 80,000 elementary school students. By 1950, there were 120,000 - an increase of 50 percent within the span of one year. Israel also took over responsibility for the education of Arab schoolchildren. The first minister of education was Zalman Shazar, later president of the State of Israel.The Retreat from Public Education: Global and Israeli Perspectives, Orit Ichilov Since 2002, the Ministry of Education has awarded a National Education Award to five top localities in recognizing excellence in investing substantial resources in the educational system. In 2012, first place was awarded to the Shomron Regional Council and followed by Or Yehuda, Tiberias, Eilat and Beersheba. The prize has been awarded to a variety of educational institutions including kindergartens and elementary schools.
Activities of organizations in schools In 2013–2014, the Ministry of Education promoted the regulation of the activities of external parties within the state schools, in a dialogue between the Ministry, the local government, parents' representatives, the business sector and philanthropic parties, as part of what was called "the intersectoral round table in the Ministry of Education". As part of the regulation, the Ministry compiled a database of external programs that have some kind of partnership with a representative from the Ministry of Education's headquarters.
In 2019, a petition was filed by pluralist Jewish organizations against the Ministry of Education due to a procedure that reduces by tens of thousands of shekels the support for the activities of these organizations in schools. In April 2021, the High Court invalidated the procedure in question, and even emphasized the importance of implementing the principles of the Shanhar Committee report on the teaching of Judaism in state education. In November 2021 it was announced that the Ministry of Education is not implementing the High Court ruling and that the damage to those organizations continues.
List of ministers #MinisterPartyGovernmentsTerm startTerm endNotesMinister of Education and Culture1Zalman ShazarMapai12David RemezMapai2Died in office3David Ben-GurionMapai2Serving Prime Minister4Ben-Zion DinurMapai3, 4, 5, 65Zalman AranMapai7, 8, 96Abba EbanMapai9, 10–Zalman AranMapai, Alignment11, 12, 137Yigal AllonAlignment15, 168Aharon YadlinAlignment179Zevulun HammerNational Religious Party18, 19, 2010Yitzhak NavonAlignment21, 22, 23–Zevulun HammerNational Religious Party2411Shulamit AloniMeretz2512Yitzhak RabinLabor25Serving Prime MinisterMinister of Education, Culture and Sport13Amnon RubinsteinMeretz25, 26–Zevulun HammerNational Religious Party27Died in office14Yitzhak LevyNational Religious Party27Minister of Education15Yossi SaridMeretz2816Ehud BarakOne Israel28 Serving Prime MinisterMinister of Education, Culture and Sport17Limor LivnatLikud29, 3018Meir SheetritKadima30Minister of Education19Yuli TamirLabor3120Gideon Sa'arLikud3221Shai PironYesh Atid334 December 201422Naftali BennettThe Jewish Home,New Right3414 May 2015 2 June 2019 23Rafi PeretzUnion of the Right-Wing Parties3417 June 201917 May 2020 24Yoav GallantLikud3517 May 202013 June 2021 25Yifat Shasha-BitonNew Hope3613 June 202129 December 202226Yoav KischLikud3729 December 2022
References
External links Official website All Ministers in the Ministry of Education and Culture Knesset website