The education system is struggling with a shortage of thousands of instructors that hasn’t been filled since the academic school year started on Friday, leading to serious issues in schools around the nation.
The manpower crisis in the education system is very severe and will have a significant influence on academic standards, even though official statistics are not yet available.
According to Ran Erez, chairman of the Secondary School Teachers’ Association, the elementary school system is lacking about 3,000 teachers. Even though he did not give an exact number, the high school system faces a staffing gap of about 20% of posts.
Official statistics are not available
On August 23, 2023, as the new academic school year commenced, the education system grappled with a pressing issue of a significant shortage of teachers that remains unfilled, leading to severe challenges in schools across the nation.
While precise official statistics are not available, data from various sources suggests that the personnel crisis in the education sector persists and is poised to have a substantial adverse impact on the quality of education.
Ran Erez, the Chairman of the Secondary School Teachers’ Association, informed The Times of Israel that the primary school system faces a deficit of approximately 3,000 teaching positions. Meanwhile, the high school system is contending with a staffing shortage, estimated at around 20 percent of total positions, although an exact numerical figure was not provided.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch, in an interview last week with Channel 12, presented considerably lower numbers regarding the shortage of teaching personnel. He asserted that there were only 1,500 teachers missing from a total of roughly 250,000 educators spread across various state school systems in the country.
The Education System as a whole lacked 3,379 teachers
According to a report by Channel 12 released on Wednesday, the current deficit stands at 1,365 teachers, comprising 910 in the regular school system, 421 in the special education system, and 34 in preschools.
During that hearing, acting director general of the Education Ministry Meir Shimoni told the committee that the system as a whole lacked 3,379 teachers, including 2,520 teachers in the state system, 784 teachers in the special education system, and 75 preschool teachers.
A spokesperson for the Education Ministry was unable to explain the discrepancy in the numbers presented by Shimoni during the committee hearing earlier this month and the numbers mentioned by Kisch last week
