
Israeli Schools Required Students to Learn Arabic-Israeli students will be required to take Arabic as an additional language while Arab children are currently mandated to learn Hebrew.
The lesson will be mandatory for fifth grades which will start in 170 schools in northern Israel.
However, the increasing demand from students to study Arabic as part of their matriculation certificate has caused changes to the national curriculum.
The head of Arabic and Islamic Education Shlomo Alon, at the ministry of education said, “We live in a country that has two official languages. Studying Arabic will promote tolerance and convey a message of acceptance.”
Ministry of Education was interested in providing opportunities for Arab teachers to teach within Israeli education. There are some 1,000 Arabic teachers and most of them Jewish.
Alon said, “The state aspires to complete equality of citizenship. We will not deal with conflicts based on cultural identity.”
Education officials hope that the curriculum will turn language into a cultural bridge and promote tolerance between Jews and Arabs.