Report: Just 3% of Israeli ninth graders met science requirements in latest tests

Education minister claims results were leaked for ‘political’ reasons, without addressing why it withheld the science scores from the rest of the exam data published last month

A large portion of school students in Israel are falling below the educational standards set by the Education Ministry, Channel 12 reported on Saturday, citing leaked results from exams conducted last year by the National Authority for Educational Measurement and Evaluation (RAMA).

While the results had partially been made public earlier this month, Channel 12 reported that the Education Ministry had attempted to keep the science scores confidential, and they were not released with the rest of the data.

According to the leaked results, just three percent of ninth grade students in Israel met the requirements of the science curriculum, while another 16% came close to, but did not meet, the requirements. Eight-one percent of students fell short of the science curriculum’s expectations for ninth grade students.

The issue was not limited to science or to ninth grade students, Channel 12 found, as just 37% of sixth grade students were up to par in mathematics, and only 36% of sixth grade students met the English language curriculum requirements.

The data published by Channel 12 was the continuation of a trend that sparked concern over the state of Israel’s education system earlier this month, when results from 2025 exams showed that only 22 percent of Israeli ninth graders met the requirements of the English language curriculum.

Students in Israel have had their studies heavily interrupted in recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers’ strikes, and wartime closures all contributing factors.

Only 9% of students at Arabic-speaking schools met the English language requirements, compared to 27% in Hebrew-speaking schools, according to the results of the standardized test given to all ninth grade students.

The worst results were observed in southern Bedouin communities, with 86% of students demonstrating low levels of English proficiency, and only 1% meeting the curriculum requirements.

In their first participation in the exams, only 7% of Haredi students met the English requirements, compared to 16% in the national religious system and 31% in the Hebrew secular system.

According to Channel 12, the Education Ministry’s decision to withhold the information on the ninth grade science scores when publishing the rest of the results earlier this month came at the instruction of Education Minister Yoav Kisch.

Instead of being made public, it was sent only to school administrators, but it was leaked to the media nonetheless, the report said.

Kisch, in response to Channel 12, accused RAMA of leaking the information.

“RAMA chose to leak data in violation of the law and to conduct a misleading media and political campaign,” he asserted, without explaining why the science scores were withheld from the rest of the results published earlier in May.

Three hundred and eighteen schools, and a total of 30,256 students, took part in the RAMA tests. It was the first time the tests had been held since the 2018-19 school year.

The content of the exams was changed in the meantime, however, so a direct comparison of the newer results to the previous ones was not possible.