Number of education students rose by 9% in 2026

A Central Bureau of Statistics report published this week shows a 9% increase in the number of students in academic education colleges in 2026: 7,000 students compared to 6,500 in 2025. The report also reveals an increase in leaving the teaching profession within 3 years between 2005 and 2021, with the highest increase in the Arab state stream (19%). In addition, a trend of integration of teaching staff into a different educational stream than the one they grew up in was noted, mainly from the Arab state stream to the Hebrew state stream.

A report by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) published this week indicates a 9% increase in the number of students studying in academic education colleges in 2026: 7,000 students compared to 6,500 in 2025. The report deals with trends in teacher training and points to an increase in leaving the teaching profession within 3 years among teaching students between 2005 and 2021. The highest increase, of 19%, was recorded in the Arab state stream: 5% left in 2005 compared to 24% in 2021. In the Hebrew state stream, the number of leavers rose by 11%, from 15% to 26%, and in the religious state stream there was an increase of 8%, from 12% to 20%. Another trend the report points to is the integration of teaching staff into a different educational stream than the one they grew up in, between 2008 and 2025. The steepest increase was recorded in the integration of teaching staff from the Arab state stream into the Hebrew state stream: from 3% in 2008 to 24% in 2025. A rapid increase was also recorded in the integration of teaching staff from the religious state stream into the Hebrew state stream (15% in 2008 compared to 42% in 2025), and a more moderate increase in the integration of teachers from the Haredi stream into the religious state stream (19% in 2008 compared to 23% in 2025).