What Curriculum Do East Jerusalem Schools Teach?
About 42,500 East Jerusalem pupils, about 47%, study the Israeli curriculum, and about 92% of the recognised system follows the PA curriculum.
About 42,500 pupils, about 47% of all East Jerusalem pupils, study in schools that adopted the Israeli curriculum, on the count published by the State Comptroller of Israel in its audit of social services for the Arab population of East Jerusalem, an audit that carries employment figures for 2016. The same audit counts about 90,000 pupils in East Jerusalem in all school types, and reports that about 92% of pupils in the recognised system there study under the Palestinian Authority curriculum. Both shares are the audit’s own counts, taken from the bodies and schools it examined, and both are printed as approximations. They rest on different denominators, which the sections below keep apart.
| Figure | What it counts | Who published it | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 90,000 | Pupils in East Jerusalem, all school types | State Comptroller of Israel | As at the audit of social services for the Arab population of East Jerusalem |
| About 42,500 | Pupils in schools that adopted the Israeli curriculum, about 47% of the about 90,000 | State Comptroller of Israel | Same audit |
| About 92% | Share of pupils in the recognised system studying under the Palestinian Authority curriculum | State Comptroller of Israel | Same audit |
| About 46% | Share of the about 90,000 pupils in official schools, meaning schools held by the state or the municipality | State Comptroller of Israel | Same audit |
| 86,700 | Primary pupils in Hebrew education in Jerusalem, all supervision streams | Central Bureau of Statistics | Jerusalem Day release, 2024 |
42,500 East Jerusalem pupils study the Israeli curriculum
The State Comptroller of Israel reports about 42,500 pupils, about 47% of all East Jerusalem pupils, in schools that adopted the Israeli curriculum. The figure is the audit’s own count of the schools and authorities it examined, an audit by Israel’s state audit institution of Israeli bodies, and it is stated as an approximation with no separate year attached in the passage that carries it. The denominator is the about 90,000 pupils the same audit counts in East Jerusalem.
- The curriculum count and the school-ownership count are two separate classifications of the same pupil population.
- 42,500 of 90,000 is 47.2%, which is the arithmetic behind the audit’s rounded 47%.
- The approximation stays: the audit prints “about” on both the 42,500 and the 90,000.
92% of recognised-system pupils follow the Palestinian Authority curriculum
The State Comptroller of Israel records that about 92% of pupils in the recognised system in East Jerusalem study under the Palestinian Authority curriculum. The audit scopes that share to the recognised system, which is a subset of the about 90,000 pupils and is distinct from the official system. This is Israel’s own audit institution counting within the categories its own education administration uses.
| Share | Its denominator | What the denominator is |
|---|---|---|
| About 92% | Pupils in the recognised system | A subset of East Jerusalem pupils, distinct from official schools |
| About 47% | All East Jerusalem pupils | The about 90,000 the audit counts in all school types |
| About 46% | All East Jerusalem pupils | The same about 90,000 |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, audit of social services for the Arab population of East Jerusalem.
About 46% of 90,000 East Jerusalem pupils attend official schools
The State Comptroller of Israel counts about 90,000 pupils in East Jerusalem, of whom about 46% study in official schools, which the audit defines as schools held by the state or the municipality. That is a statement about who holds the school, not about which curriculum is taught in it, and the audit reports the two separately. Again the counts are the audit’s own, produced by Israel’s state audit institution from the education bodies it examined.
- Official schools: held by the state or the municipality, about 46% of pupils.
- The recognised system: a separate category, and the one the audit’s 92% Palestinian Authority curriculum share belongs to.
- The audit publishes no per-school list and no year-by-year series for either category in the passage used.
No Tawjihi or Bagrut candidate count appears in these audits
The State Comptroller of Israel reports East Jerusalem pupils by school type and by curriculum, and it publishes no count of matriculation candidates or certificates by examination route. The audit does publish labour and income figures for East Jerusalem alongside the education figures, which are comparative against the west of the city. Where the record used here says nothing about examination routes, that absence stands as it is.
| Figure | What it counts | Period |
|---|---|---|
| 85% | Women in East Jerusalem who did not work at all, against 41% of women in west Jerusalem | 2016 |
| 64% | Men in East Jerusalem who worked | As at the audit |
| 40% | Average monthly income per person in East Jerusalem as a share of income per person in west Jerusalem | As at the audit |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, audit of social services for the Arab population of East Jerusalem.
Which figures may not be added together?
The 46% official-school share and the 92% Palestinian Authority curriculum share sit on different denominators, the first on all East Jerusalem pupils and the second on the recognised system alone, so they may not be summed, subtracted or averaged into one figure. The 47% Israeli-curriculum share and the 46% official-school share are two different classifications of the same pupils, and neither implies the other. Every pupil figure here carries the audit’s own “about” and none may be restated as an exact number. The Central Bureau of Statistics figures below are a different universe, Hebrew education citywide, and are not comparable with the East Jerusalem Arab school counts; its three supervision streams are stated as approximations against an about 86,700 primary total.
Questions readers ask
Which curriculum do most East Jerusalem schools teach?
The State Comptroller of Israel reports about 92% of pupils in the recognised system studying under the Palestinian Authority curriculum, and about 47% of all East Jerusalem pupils in schools that adopted the Israeli curriculum.
How many East Jerusalem pupils study the Israeli curriculum?
The State Comptroller of Israel counts about 42,500, about 47% of all East Jerusalem pupils.
How many pupils are in East Jerusalem schools altogether?
The State Comptroller of Israel counts about 90,000 pupils in East Jerusalem across all school types.
Is the 92% a share of all East Jerusalem pupils?
No. The State Comptroller of Israel scopes that share to the recognised system, a subset of the about 90,000.
What counts as an official school?
The State Comptroller of Israel defines official schools as schools held by the state or the municipality, and counts about 46% of East Jerusalem pupils in them.
Does the audit say which matriculation exams pupils sit?
The State Comptroller of Israel publishes no count of matriculation candidates or certificates by examination route in this audit.
Who published these education figures?
The State Comptroller of Israel published them, in its audit of social services for the Arab population of East Jerusalem. They are that audit’s own counts.
Are the pupil figures exact?
No. The State Comptroller of Israel prints each of them with “about”, and they are used here as approximations.
Can the 46% and the 92% be added or subtracted?
No. The State Comptroller of Israel measures them on different denominators, all East Jerusalem pupils in the first case and the recognised system in the second.
What area do these figures cover?
The State Comptroller of Israel scopes the audit to the roughly 70 square kilometres over which Israel applied its law, jurisdiction and administration in June 1967 and annexed to the Jerusalem municipal boundary.
How many primary pupils are in Hebrew education in Jerusalem?
The Central Bureau of Statistics counted 86,700 primary pupils in Hebrew education in Jerusalem in its 2024 Jerusalem Day release, of whom about 59,700 under ultra-Orthodox supervision, about 14,900 State-Religious and about 12,000 State.
Does the Central Bureau of Statistics release used here break down Arab education in Jerusalem?
The Central Bureau of Statistics figures used here report Hebrew education primary pupils by supervision stream, and carry no Arab-education breakdown in the passage used.
Sources
- Central Bureau of Statistics, 2024. Selected Data on the Occasion of Jerusalem Day, 2024. Media release. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2018. Cleanliness and Sanitation in the Arab Neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. Special audit report. mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel. Social Services for the Arab Population of East Jerusalem. Audit report. mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
