About two months ago, the Ministry of Education published data according to which about a quarter of the ultra-Orthodox were eligible for a matriculation certificate last year.
The real figure, which includes the entire age group and not just the schools that apply for matriculation - is much lower.
Only 5% of the boys completed the requirements for the diploma, and together with the girls, the ultra-Orthodox education reaches 14% eligible.
The gap between the data reveals the heart of the problem.
Ariel Karlinski, a doctoral student in economics at the Hebrew University, recognized the distortion in the numbers presented by the Ministry of Education and conducted a study that filled in the gap: how many ultra-Orthodox people really leave the education system with a certificate in hand, and what is the ratio between men and women who are eligible for matriculation.
"An amusing situation is created where the fewer schools apply for matriculation - the percentage of those eligible increases," he explains.
"The Ministry of Education's calculation does not distort the data of most sectors - but regarding ultra-Orthodox boys, it may create a false representation. The problem lies, among other things, in the fact that the Ministry of Education considers students who move to a large yeshiva in high school to be dropouts.
They are not counted in the calculation of the total ratio between those who are eligible - and those who are not, and this is a problem.
I want to know what the actual chances of a child getting out with matriculation are."
Only 5% of ultra-Orthodox boys are eligible.
Yeshiva in Bnei Brak (Photo: Reuven Castro)
According to Karlinski, the explanation that the situation has gotten better over the years is mainly due to the desire for it to be so.
The research revealed that the increase in the matriculation rate of ultra-Orthodox in the last thirty years is similar to the jump recorded in the other sectors - but among the ultra-Orthodox population the increase was more moderate.
In 1996, the matriculation rate for ultra-Orthodox men was 0.6% compared to 45% for non-Orthodox Jewish men.
In 2018 the gap jumped to 2.8% compared to 79%.
"It's not moving - the gap between the secular and the ultra-Orthodox is only growing," he emphasizes.
"An ultra-Orthodox man with a high school diploma is on the verge of oxymoron."
The workers and the learners
The analysis of the reasons for the creeping progress must be done in gender separation.
As the numbers show, the matriculation eligibility rate among girls is five times higher than that of boys.
The importance of the core professions became noticeable with the increase in the number of working ultra-Orthodox women - tens of percent in the last 20 years.
When they enter the job market and try to acquire a sought-after profession such as engineering, computers, architecture or accounting, the disadvantage in studying mathematics or English stands in front of them as a difficult barrier to pass.
Word spreads below and the girls' high schools, the seminaries, begin to change direction.
In the past, they would only submit to the external tests of the Sold Institute - which is an alternative to the matriculation exams, which is a measure of admission to grades 13-14.
Today, some institutions teach five units of mathematics, even if they are not aimed at a full matriculation certificate.
"There is great pressure on the part of the parents to bring the children to matriculation, while the rabbinical side and the institutions are strongly opposed for fear that they will want to continue to academia," explains the change, attorney Yehoshua Pepper from the Faculty of Law and the School of Social Work at the Hebrew University, an expert on society and ultra-orthodox education. "Women want more professions make a living
The standards of life have risen and so has the cost of living, and there is no escape from core learning."
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Ministry of Education report: increase in the eligibility rate for a matriculation certificate
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"There is no escape from core studies."
Yeshiva students (Photo: Reuven Castro)
For boys, the situation is different.
The employment rate of men is much lower than that of women - about 50% versus about 80% - and the percentage of eligibility for matriculation accordingly, in a kind of chicken and egg.
"The boys are a more pressing issue," explains Pepper, who serves as community rabbi in the Ramot B neighborhood in Jerusalem.
"Unlike women, they have been stagnant for several years. Not only do they not approach matriculation - but they do not study the core subjects. They do not study English in elementary school, and instead of math there is calculus. In the small yeshiva, which correspond to grades 10-11, there are no general studies at all , only Gemara.
And B.V. are already entering a big yeshiva."
He emphasizes that there are also students who turn to other tracks, mainly from the Spanish stream, but these are rare cases.
"If at the age of 20 or 30 they want to decide to go out to work - the task of completing the material is difficult," Pepper continues.
"It's also a matter of perception: the schools don't teach craft as a value, as something to strive for. The ideal is to sit and study Torah and go to work is a sad event. When a man goes to work, he loses his social status. It has a price."
One step forward, two steps back
According to Pepper, the problem goes back to the establishment of the state.
"The first years of the state were traumatic. There was a massive joining of the pioneering project, in every ultra-Orthodox home there was a child who went to the Lahi or the Atzel, and so they left the religion. As a counterpoint, the strategy was one of separation. The state allowed support for the distinct community, that was the order It is very convenient for both Ben-Gurion and for them. This is how they re-established the communities, the Hasidic courts and the institutions that were destroyed in the Holocaust, and chose not to teach a core but to focus on Torah study. The nature of the ultra-Orthodox separation in Israel is more extreme than in other countries, in the United States the ultra-Orthodox boys enter the job market and prosper." .
70 years later, the last government tried to lead a revolutionary move to encourage core studies together with Belez Hasidism.
Hasidism turned to the Ministry of Education due to financial difficulties, and for a long period senior officials from both sides conducted secret talks until they reached an agreement in June.
As part of the arrangement, it was decided that institutions that teach Hebrew, mathematics and English will receive budgets according to the students' achievements - even if they are not associated with a state education network.
Thus, Hasidism will be able to maintain its independence.
"Choose to focus on learning Torah" (Photo: Reuven Castro)
The publication of the outline caused an uproar in ultra-Orthodox society.
Significant pressure was exerted on Hasidism to withdraw from it, until at one point the agreement threatened to split the Torah Judaism party.
Hasidism finally surrendered and the agreement was frozen.
According to reports, behind the waiver was a political promise: Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to grant an additional budget to institutions that do not teach core subjects, in exchange for the joint running of the two parts of Torah Judaism - Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel.
Thus, instead of a historical change to reduce educational gaps, ultra-orthodox society received a carrot in the form of an incentive to stay behind.
"The Belaz plan still exists and can come to fruition," says Pepper.
"It's a shame that it failed, and it's important that ultra-Orthodox parents have the option to choose a path that includes core studies, and on the other hand, the opposite choice must be respected as well. The best solution is not to force, but for the ultra-Orthodox public to understand the importance themselves. There is no doubt that this is gaining momentum among parents. It is certain that the funding in the agreement The new one will not contribute, but the process is more ideological-internal than political. There is a gap between the field and the politicians. It's not just that there is spillover to Smotrich and other parties."
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