For first time over 50% of students eligible for matriculation certificates

Data reveals Jewish student population, not including the ultra-Orthodox, had an increase of 5.6% in eligibility for a matriculation certificate - an additional 2,800 students.

By LIDAR GRAVÉ-LAZI
Empty Classroom (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Empty Classroom
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
For the first time, the number of students eligible to receive matriculation certificates has crossed the 50 percent threshold, the Education Ministry announced on Tuesday.
Between the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 academic years there was a marked increase of 3.6 percentage points in the number of high school students eligible to receive a matriculation certificate, from 49.8% to 53.4%. This increase represents an additional 4,593 youngsters who are eligible to receive the certificate, a prerequisite for higher education.
The figures from the 2012/13 academic year reflect the highest proportion of students eligible for matriculation certificates to date, Dr.
Moshe Dekalo, senior director of the examinations department at the ministry, emphasized.
Among Jewish students, not including the ultra-Orthodox, there was an increase of 5.6 percentage points in the proportion of those eligible for a matriculation certificate, and an increase of 2,800 students.
In the 2012/13 academic year, 72.2% of Jewish students were eligible for the matriculation certificate, up from 66.6% the previous year.
In the ultra-Orthodox sector, there was an increase of 0.8 percentage points, and an additional 145 students were eligible for the matriculation certificate, up from 8.2% of the total in the 2011/12 academic year to 9.0% in 2012/13.
In the Jewish sector as a whole, including the ultra-Orthodox, an increase of 4.5 percentage points was registered, from 55.3% in 2011/12 to 59.8% in 2012/13.
There was also an improvement among new immigrants, of 2.2 percentage points, from 55.8% in 2011/12 to 58% in 2012/13.
More girls than girls were eligible to receive matriculation certificates. In 2012/13, 67.2% of the girls were eligible to receive a certificate compared to 60.7% of the boys – a gap of 6.5 percentage points.
Both groups improved from 2011/12, when 65.8% of girls and 58.5% of boys were eligible.
In the non-Jewish sector, composed of Arabs, Druse, and Beduin in the Negev, not including east Jerusalem, there was an improvement of 3.5 percentage points, representing 1,599 more students who were eligible for a matriculation certificate. In 2011/12 47.5% of students in this sector were eligible for a matriculation certificate, up from 42.2% in 2011/12.
Among the Arab population, not including east Jerusalem, there was an increase of 3.3 percentage points in students eligible for the matriculation certificate, an additional 1,084 students. In the 2012/13 academic year, 46.9% of Arab students were eligible compared to 43.6% in 2011/12.
Among the Druse, there was an increase of 6.7 percentage points in students eligible for the matriculation certificate, an additional 226 students.
In the 2012/13 academic year some 61.5% of Druse students were eligible compared to 54.8% in 2011/12.
Beduin in the Negev saw a 3.2 percentage point increase, representing an additional 289 students eligible to receive a matriculation certificate.
In 2012/13, 32.3% of students were eligible compared to 29.1% in 2011/12.