(Non-)Enforcement of the Core Curriculum Requirement in ultra-Orthodox Boys’ Education

Despite clear indications that a significant number of ultra-Orthodox boys’ schools do not teach core subjects as required by law, hardly any face penalties from the Ministry of Education. The few penalties that are imposed are minor.

Photo by Shlomi Cohen/Flash90

In Israel, the core curriculum is developed by the Ministry of Education, comprising subjects intended to serve as a common foundation for the entire education system—in other words, to provide all Israeli students with a shared base of knowledge. The curriculum content is divided into clusters, such as a languages and literature cluster, a mathematics and sciences cluster, and others. The subjects included in the core curriculum are considered essential for the development and growth of autonomous Israeli citizens equipped with the knowledge and learning skills necessary for functioning and integration into society and the workforce. However, as is well known, there is resistance within the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community, particularly among boys, to the implementation of this curriculum.

This review examines the Ministry of Education’s enforcement policy regarding the obligation to teach core curriculum subjects in elementary schools for boys in the ultra-Orthodox sector between the 2013/14 and 2023/24 school years.

The review focuses primarily on budget deductions, which are financial penalties imposed by the Ministry on schools that fail to teach the required core subjects – that is, reductions in the funding transferred to these schools.

According to the regulations applicable to ultra-Orthodox elementary education, these institutions are obligated to teach core curriculum subjects at levels ranging between 55% to 100% of the official core curriculum used in state schools. This review presents findings on the enforcement of the core curriculum requirement in Haredi elementary boys' education over the past decade.

The key findings are as follows:

The share of ultra-Orthodox institutions whose budgets are reduced by the Ministry of Education due to non-compliance with core curriculum requirements is very low.
Despite clear indications that a significant number of ultra-Orthodox boys’ schools do not teach core subjects as required, the percentage of such institutions that have faced budget deductions stands at only 6% in the 2023-24 school year.

A substantial portion of ultra-Orthodox boys' schools lack any enforcement at all.
The Ministry of Education does not enforce the core curriculum obligation at all in exempt institutions and recognized but unofficial institutions (i.e., schools that receive partial government funding, despite operating outside of typical Israeli school requirements). These are both obligated to teach 55% and 75% of the core curriculum respectively. Approximately half of all boys in ultra-Orthodox elementary education study in these types of institutions. Enforcement only takes place in Network Schools, that is, ultra-Orthodox schools required to teach the full core curriculum and receive full state funding.

The percentage of budget deductions is very low.
Even among the few ultra-Orthodox educational institutions that do undergo budget deductions, the average deduction is only around 6% of the funding transferred to the institution in the 2023-24 school year, amounting to roughly 225,000 NIS per institution.

Decline in the scope of deductions over the years.
Over the past decade, there has been a marked decline in both the scale and total amount of budget deducted per institution. In the 2013/14 school year, the average number of weekly hours deducted from penalized institutions was 72; by the 2023-24 school year, the average annual deduction was equivalent to 32 weekly hours. (Note: deductions are calculated based on a weekly hours system, in which the financial deductions are proportionate to the number of weekly hours in which the core curriculum was not taught).

More deductions in the geographic periphery than in the center of the country.
A relatively high percentage of budget deductions are made in peripheral regions, especially in the Southern District. It is difficult to pinpoint the reason why deduction rates are lower in central districts, but it may stem from enforcement difficulties in areas with stronger ideological Haredi orientations.

Recurring issues in the same institutions.
In 82% of institutions from which the Ministry of Education deducted funding during the 11 years reviewed, deductions were made in more than one year. Many institutions experienced deductions in multiple years, and 10% of institutions were deducted from in all 11 years.

The Ministry of Education did not use the tool of revoking institutional recognition.
Although the Ministry of Education has legal authority to revoke recognition from educational institutions that fail to meet core curriculum requirements, in practice the policy has been not to exercise this authority. 

Conclusion

This review indicates that the Ministry of Education adopts a highly lax enforcement policy regarding the obligation to teach core curriculum subjects in the ultra-Orthodox elementary boys’ education system. Despite clear indications of a very high rate of deviation from the core curriculum in these institutions, the Ministry in practice refrains from imposing budgetary penalties on the majority of schools. Even when the Ministry of Education does impose financial penalties, the amounts involved are relatively negligible—particularly in light of the gradual decline over the past decade in the level of sanctions imposed on schools whose budgets have been reduced. In addition, the Ministry does not make use at all of its authority to revoke recognition from educational institutions that fail to teach the required core subjects.