High School Dropout Rate Remains Constant

The Central Bureau of Statistics reports that in 1996 some 19,800 pupils in 9-11 grades dropped out of schools under the authority of the Ministry of Education, equaling 7% of the high school population. There has been no significant change in the dropout rate since 1990.

The Bureau reports that boys are twice as likely to drop out as girls (8.4% versus 4.6%). The drop out rate for Arabs is almost double the rate for Jews -- 10.7% versus 6.5% -- and Arab boys are also twice as likely as Arab girls to drop out (14% versus 7.3%). Other high risk groups are pupils whose fathers had under 8 years of education (9.9% among Jews and 12.2% among Arabs), while the dropout rate for pupils whose fathers had more than 13 years education was 4.3% for Jews and 3.1% for Arabs. The mother's economic status is important -- the dropout rate of children of widows, divorcees and single women was 13.3% compared to 5.6% for children of married parents. The dropout rates for immigrant children from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union was 11.3% and 13.2% respectively.

Vocational pupils are twice as likely to drop out as pupils in academic oriented programs -- 8.4% versus 4.1%. Vocational education also reflects the pupils' fathers own lack of education, thus compounding the high dropout rate. 20.6% of vocation pupils whose fathers had less than 8 years education dropped out compared to 8.5% of academic oriented pupils whose fathers' situation was the same. This is even more noted among the Arab sector -- 68.8% and 58% respectively.