Abstract
Until 2013, ultra-Orthodox primary education in Israel included only non-State schools, with little core studies for boys. In school year 2013/2014, the Ministry of Education established a new framework—State ultra-Orthodox. State ultra-Orthodox schools have the same regulations as State schools, and in 2022 approximately 4 percent of the students in ultra-Orthodox primary education studied in such schools. The State ultra-Orthodox schools can be divided into 3 streams: ultra-Orthodox, “Habad”, and National-ultra-Orthodox. The ultra-Orthodox stream holds about half the students, and Habad holds about a third.
This research examines, for the first time, using administrative data, the demographic, social, and economic background of the male students in the State ultra-Orthodox primary education system, with an emphasis on the ultra-Orthodox stream, and the continued path in secondary education and in Yeshiva institutions. All this is in comparison to students in the non-State ultra-Orthodox primary education system.
The research indicate that the characteristics of students in the ultra-Orthodox stream are different from those of students in the non-State ultra-Orthodox education system. Their parents and older siblings acquired less religious education and more secular education, and the employment rate of the fathers is higher, though the family income from work is similar. Similar results were also obtained in estimations of the probability to study in the ultra-Orthodox stream. The lion’s share of students entering the State ultra-Orthodox education system, and its ultra-Orthodox stream, previously studied in ultra-Orthodox education, indicating that the State ultra-Orthodox primary education system is apparently a substitute for the non-State ultra-Orthodox education.
Approximately a quarter of graduates of the primary ultra-Orthodox stream studied at ultra-Orthodox high schools, where student applied to matriculation exams, more than 10 times the share among graduates of the non-State ultra-Orthodox education system. About a third of graduates of the ultra-Orthodox stream apply for the “Bagrut” matriculation certificates, and more than a fifth are eligible for a Bagrut diploma, more than 3 times the share among graduates of non-State ultra-Orthodox primary education system. Graduates of the State ultra-Orthodox primary education system study at yeshiva at a much lower share (less than half, compared to about two-thirds, respectively). These features are likely to increase the probabilities of State ultra-Orthodox education system graduates to acquire secular, including academic, post-secondary schooling and to integrate more successfully into the labor market.
Keywords: Education, Ultra-Orthodox, State Ultra-Orthodox Education.