How Many Classrooms Does East Jerusalem Need?
The Jerusalem municipality puts the East Jerusalem classroom shortage at about 2,000, with 1,124 classrooms in a plan for 2024 to 2029.
Approximately 2,000 classrooms is the shortage the Jerusalem municipality states for East Jerusalem, a figure the Knesset Research and Information Centre published in its 2025 paper on Arab education in East Jerusalem. The count is the municipality’s own, relayed by the Centre, and it carries the approximation the Centre prints. The same paper records a five-year plan the municipality submitted for 2024 to 2029, under which 1,124 classrooms are to be built.
| Figure | What it counts | Who published it | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 2,000 classrooms | Shortage stated by the Jerusalem municipality, the municipality’s own count of its own system | Knesset Research and Information Centre | Stated as current in the 2025 paper |
| 1,124 classrooms | Classrooms to be built under the municipality’s submitted plan, planned rather than completed | Knesset Research and Information Centre | Plan period 2024 to 2029 |
| About 125,000 students | Arab education system in East Jerusalem, all school types | Knesset Research and Information Centre | 2025 paper |
| 84,500 students | Public schools, of whom about 40,000 in official schools and about 45,000 in recognised but unofficial schools | Knesset Research and Information Centre | 2023/24 |
| 15,400 students | Unrecognised private schools, on the most recent data the paper received | Knesset Research and Information Centre | As stated in the 2025 paper |
| 22,284 students | Studying under the Israeli curriculum, about 26% of students in official and recognised schools | Knesset Research and Information Centre | 2024/25 |
| About 90,000 pupils | East Jerusalem pupils, of whom about 46% in official schools | State Comptroller of Israel | Social services chapter |
The municipality puts the shortage at about 2,000 classrooms
The Knesset Research and Information Centre reports that the Jerusalem municipality puts the current shortage at approximately 2,000 classrooms. That is the municipality’s own count of the gap in the school system it runs, given by the Centre as an approximation and stated as current at the time of the 2025 paper rather than tied to a school year. The Centre relays the figure; it does not produce a count of its own.
- Issuing body: the Jerusalem municipality, relayed by the Knesset Research and Information Centre
- Kind of figure: a stated shortage, an approximation, in classrooms rather than in places or students
- Period: stated as current in a paper published in 2025
The five-year plan for 2024 to 2029 covers 1,124 classrooms
The Knesset Research and Information Centre records that the Jerusalem municipality has submitted a five-year plan for 2024 to 2029 under which 1,124 classrooms are to be built. The 1,124 is a planned build, not a count of classrooms completed or handed over, and it sits against the approximately 2,000 the same municipality states are short. Both figures are the municipality’s own, published in the Centre’s 2025 paper.
| Item | Figure | What kind of figure it is |
|---|---|---|
| Shortage stated by the municipality | About 2,000 classrooms | A stated current gap, approximate |
| Five-year plan, 2024 to 2029 | 1,124 classrooms | Submitted plan, to be built |
Source: Knesset Research and Information Centre, 2025, relaying the Jerusalem municipality’s own figures.
About 125,000 students sit behind the classroom count
The Knesset Research and Information Centre puts the Arab education system in East Jerusalem at approximately 125,000 students. In 2023/24 the Centre records 21,700 students in public kindergartens and 84,500 in public schools, of whom about 40,000 were in official schools and about 45,000 in recognised but unofficial schools, with a further 15,400 in unrecognised private schools. The State Comptroller of Israel counts about 90,000 pupils in East Jerusalem, about 46% of them in official schools, in its chapter on social services for the Arab population of East Jerusalem; the two bodies cover different school types and different years, and the counts are not one series.
Which schools does the shortage figure cover?
The Jerusalem municipality’s shortage figure belongs to the system it runs, and the Knesset Research and Information Centre reports 15,400 students in unrecognised private schools that sit outside it. Within the official and recognised schools, the Centre records 22,284 students studying under the Israeli curriculum in 2024/25, about 26% of students in those schools. The State Comptroller of Israel records that about 92% of pupils in the recognised system in East Jerusalem study under the Palestinian Authority curriculum, and separately counts about 42,500 pupils, about 47% of East Jerusalem pupils, in schools that adopted the Israeli curriculum.
| School type | Students | Body and period |
|---|---|---|
| Official schools | About 40,000 | Knesset Research and Information Centre, 2023/24 |
| Recognised but unofficial | About 45,000 | Knesset Research and Information Centre, 2023/24 |
| Unrecognised private | 15,400 | Knesset Research and Information Centre, most recent data received |
| Studying the Israeli curriculum | 22,284, about 26% of official and recognised | Knesset Research and Information Centre, 2024/25 |
| Recognised system under the Palestinian Authority curriculum | About 92% of that system | State Comptroller of Israel |
No count of classrooms completed appears in these publications
The Knesset Research and Information Centre publishes no year-by-year count of classrooms built or handed over against the 1,124 in the municipality’s plan, and no shortage figure updated after the plan was submitted. The State Comptroller of Israel, in its chapter on social services for the Arab population of East Jerusalem, publishes enrolment and curriculum figures rather than a classroom-construction series. A reader checking delivery against the plan will not find those figures in either publication.
Which figures here may not be added or compared?
The approximately 2,000 and the 1,124 are the Jerusalem municipality’s own figures, one a stated need and one a submitted plan, and neither is a count of classrooms in use. The enrolment components for kindergartens, official schools, recognised schools and unrecognised private schools do not sum to the approximately 125,000 system total the Knesset Research and Information Centre states, and may not be presented as a partition of it. The Centre’s 22,284 students, about 26% of those in official and recognised schools in 2024/25, and the State Comptroller of Israel’s about 42,500 pupils, about 47% of East Jerusalem pupils, rest on different denominators, different years and different units, one counting students who study under a curriculum and the other counting pupils in schools that adopted one; they are not a rise or a fall. The municipal boundary of Jerusalem was expanded in 1967 following the Six Day War, as the State Comptroller of Israel records.
Questions readers ask
How many classrooms are short in East Jerusalem?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre reports the Jerusalem municipality’s stated shortage at approximately 2,000 classrooms, the municipality’s own count of its own system.
How many classrooms are planned?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre records a five-year plan submitted by the Jerusalem municipality for 2024 to 2029 under which 1,124 classrooms are to be built.
Have those classrooms been built?
Neither the Knesset Research and Information Centre paper nor the State Comptroller of Israel chapter publishes a count of classrooms completed against that plan.
How many students are in the system?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre puts the Arab education system in East Jerusalem at approximately 125,000 students.
How many are in public schools?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre records 84,500 students in public schools and 21,700 in public kindergartens in 2023/24.
What is a recognised but unofficial school?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre reports about 45,000 students in recognised but unofficial schools, a category it counts separately from the about 40,000 in official schools.
Are private schools included in the shortage figure?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre records 15,400 students in unrecognised private schools, which sit outside the system the Jerusalem municipality’s classroom figure covers.
How many students follow the Israeli curriculum?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre records 22,284 students under the Israeli curriculum in 2024/25, about 26% of those in official and recognised schools.
Why does the State Comptroller give a different curriculum share?
The State Comptroller of Israel counts about 42,500 pupils, about 47% of East Jerusalem pupils, in schools that adopted the Israeli curriculum, a different unit, denominator and period from the Centre’s figure.
Who publishes the pupil count for East Jerusalem?
The State Comptroller of Israel counts about 90,000 pupils in East Jerusalem, about 46% of them in official schools, and the Knesset Research and Information Centre counts about 125,000 students across all school types.
Is the 2,000 an Israeli government figure?
The figure is the Jerusalem municipality’s own, published by the Knesset Research and Information Centre in 2025 as an approximation.
Does the plan cover the whole stated shortage?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre reports 1,124 classrooms in the plan against the approximately 2,000 the Jerusalem municipality states are short.
Sources
- Knesset Research and Information Centre, 2025. Arab Education in East Jerusalem, Selected Aspects. knesset.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel. Social Services for the Arab Population of East Jerusalem. Office of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman of Israel. mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2018. Cleanliness and Sanitation in the Arab Neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. Office of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman of Israel. mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
