How Many Israeli Students Drop Out of School? 0.5% in 2019/20

0.5% was the national school dropout rate the State Comptroller of Israel recorded for school year 5780, which is 2019/20, in its 2022 audit of local authorities. That rate is a share of the 2,356,000 pupils aged 3 to 18 the State Comptroller reports were in Israel’s education system that year, and it counts pupils recorded as having dropped out within a single school year. The audit names two local authorities above the average and publishes no dropout figure by population group.

Figure	What it counts	Period
0.5%	National average dropout rate	School year 5780 (2019/20)
2.2%	Dropout rate, Bnei Brak municipality	School year 5780
1.7%	Dropout rate, Al-Kasoum regional council	School year 5780
2,356,000	Pupils in the education system, aged 3 to 18	School year 5780
5.17%	High-school-age pupils not registered at an educational institution in Israel	2018
7.65%	The same registration measure, OECD average	2018
628.7	Attendance-officer posts on establishment, of which 622 filled	School year 5780
About 90,000	Pupils handled by attendance officers	School year 5781 (2020/21)

Source: State Comptroller of Israel, 2022, Local Authorities’ Actions to Locate, Prevent and Address Pupils Dropping Out of Education. The 5.17% and the 7.65% are a registration measure and are not the dropout rate.

The Comptroller records a 0.5% national dropout rate in 5780

The State Comptroller reports the 0.5% as the national average against which it sets individual local authorities, and it is the state’s own audit figure, drawn from Ministry of Education reporting of pupils recorded as having dropped out rather than from a survey of households. It is a rate for one school year, not a share of a cohort that failed to complete schooling.

• The unit is the pupil recorded as having dropped out during school year 5780.
• The base is the education system aged 3 to 18, which the State Comptroller puts at 2,356,000 pupils that year.
• The measure runs through the attendance officer system, so a pupil enters it when a local authority records the case.

5.17% of high-school-age pupils were unregistered, against the OECD’s 7.65%

The State Comptroller reports that 5.17% of high-school-age pupils were not registered at an educational institution in Israel in 2018, and sets that beside an OECD average of 7.65% for the same measure. This is a registration status for one age band on a stated date, produced from administrative registers held by the Ministry of Education, and it is a different quantity from the 0.5% dropout rate above.

• The Israeli figure covers high-school-age pupils only, not the 3 to 18 system.
• The OECD average is a mean across member states reporting on their own conventions.
• The two figures on this page, 5.17% and 0.5%, count different things and may not be subtracted or reconciled.

Dropout reached 2.2% in Bnei Brak and 1.7% in Al-Kasoum

The State Comptroller names two local authorities with rates above the national average in school year 5780: 2.2% in the Bnei Brak municipality and 1.7% in the Al-Kasoum regional council. Both are the audit’s own figures for the same year and the same measure as the national average, drawn from the same Ministry of Education reporting, which is what makes them comparable with it. The audit names them as high-rate cases and publishes no ranking of local authorities.

628.7 attendance-officer posts handled about 90,000 pupils in 5781

The attendance officer, the קב”ס, is the local authority official charged with locating pupils who have left an institution. The State Comptroller reports about 90,000 pupils handled by attendance officers in school year 5781, a caseload that covers pupils at risk of dropping out as well as those recorded as having dropped out, so it is not a dropout count. The Ministry of Education states 100 cases per post as the desirable load, on its own standard.

Figure	What it counts	Period
628.7	Attendance-officer posts on establishment, counted in fractional part-time posts	School year 5780
622	Of those posts, filled	School year 5780
About 90,000	Pupils handled by attendance officers, including pupils at risk	School year 5781
100	Cases per post the Ministry of Education states as desirable	As at the audit
114 to 169	Cases actually handled per post	As at the audit

Source: State Comptroller of Israel, 2022. The post counts and the caseload belong to different school years.

The audit publishes no dropout figures by population group

The State Comptroller’s 2022 audit reports dropout by local authority and by attendance-officer caseload. It carries no dropout figure by population group, by sex, by immigration status or by the grade at which a pupil leaves. Other Israeli official education publications in this record count enrolment and attainment rather than dropout.

• The State Comptroller’s 2020 audit of Haredi education reports 446,000 Haredi pupils in 5779 and matriculation figures of 13% for boys and 21% for girls in 12th grade, and publishes no dropout rate for the sector’s schools.
• The Knesset Research and Information Centre reports approximately 125,000 students in the Arab education system in East Jerusalem, counted by school type, with no dropout series.
• The Central Bureau of Statistics counts national education expenditure, kindergarten and higher education enrolment in Statistilite 169, and publishes no dropout rate there.

Which of these figures may not be compared?

The 0.5% and the 5.17% are separate measures from the same audit: one is pupils recorded as having dropped out in a school year across ages 3 to 18, the other is high-school-age pupils not registered at an institution in 2018. Neither may be converted into the other. The about 90,000 caseload is a count of pupils handled by attendance officers, including those at risk, and is not a dropout total; dividing it by the 2,356,000 pupil population produces a figure no Israeli body publishes. The 628.7 posts are fractional because the role is part-time, so the number counts posts and not people. Hebrew school years are given as the audit gives them: 5780 is 2019/20 and 5781 is 2020/21.

Questions readers ask

What is Israel’s official school dropout rate?

The State Comptroller of Israel recorded a national average of 0.5% for school year 5780, which is 2019/20, in its 2022 audit of local authorities.

How many pupils are in Israel’s education system?

The State Comptroller reports 2,356,000 pupils aged 3 to 18 in school year 5780.

Does the 0.5% include kindergarten children?

The population the State Comptroller reports for that year covers ages 3 to 18, so it includes kindergarten-age children.

Which local authorities does the audit name?

The State Comptroller names Bnei Brak at 2.2% and Al-Kasoum at 1.7% for school year 5780, against the 0.5% national average.

Does Israel publish dropout rates by population group?

The State Comptroller’s 2022 audit publishes dropout by local authority only, and carries no figure by population group, by sex or by immigration status.

What does the 5.17% figure mean?

The State Comptroller reports that 5.17% of high-school-age pupils were not registered at an educational institution in Israel in 2018, a registration measure rather than a dropout rate.

How does Israel compare with the OECD on that measure?

The State Comptroller sets Israel’s 5.17% against an OECD average of 7.65% for 2018, the only international comparator the audit prints.

Who is responsible for finding pupils who leave school?

The State Comptroller reports that attendance officers employed by local authorities locate pupils who have dropped out, with 628.7 posts on establishment in 5780 and 622 of them filled.

How many cases does an attendance officer handle?

The State Comptroller found 114 to 169 cases per post, against the 100 per post the Ministry of Education states as desirable.

Are the 90,000 pupils handled by attendance officers all dropouts?

The State Comptroller counts about 90,000 pupils handled in school year 5781, a caseload covering pupils at risk of dropping out as well as those recorded as having left.

What does the Central Bureau of Statistics publish on education?

The Central Bureau of Statistics reports national expenditure on education of NIS 102.8 billion, 8.1% of GDP on an early estimate for 2017, and 314,500 students in higher education in 2017/18.

Does the State Comptroller publish a dropout rate for Haredi schools?

The State Comptroller’s 2020 audit of Haredi education reports 446,000 pupils in 5779 and matriculation shares of 13% for boys and 21% for girls, and publishes no dropout rate.

Sources

• Central Bureau of Statistics, 2019. Statistilite 169: Education in Israel. Selected data booklet, 16 pp. cbs.gov.il. Official or primary record.
• Knesset Research and Information Centre, 2025. Arab Education in East Jerusalem, Selected Aspects. knesset.gov.il. Official or primary record.
• State Comptroller of Israel, 2020. The Ministry of Education: Haredi Education and Its Supervision. Annual Report 70b, chapter 210. library.mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
• State Comptroller of Israel, 2022. Local Authorities’ Actions to Locate, Prevent and Address Pupils Dropping Out of Education. Local government audit, pp. 101 onward. mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.