Beit Jann is a Druze village in the Upper Galilee with a population of about 11,500. According to a study by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the village is ranked low in terms of socioeconomics. The data also shows that the average wage of an employee in Beit Jann for 2011 was 4,726 shekels per month ($1,300). For the sake of comparison, the average wage in Israel at the time was almost double that, at 7,522 shekels ($2,000).
But as it turns out, there is one area where Beit Jann can’t be beat. According to data released Sept. 1 by the Ministry of Education, Beit Jann is ranked third in all of Israel for the percentage of students eligible for a matriculation certificate. Over 85% of the village’s students successfully completed their exams and are eligible for graduation. With this, they have surpassed wealthier towns in the center of the country like Herzliya, Raanana and Ramat HaSharon, and left towns like Rehovot, Rishon LeTziyon and Netanya far behind.
Beit Jann’s students have not only succeeded in doing better than their Jewish peers — more importantly, they have overcome the discriminatory policies of Israel’s Arab education system. For years, Israel’s Arab students were written off as abysmal failures in everything pertaining to education. For example, the dropout rate of Arab students is significantly higher than that of Jewish students. In all, some 20% of Arab students fail to complete 12 years of school, and more than 40% are ineligible for a matriculation certificate.
“The main cause of this inequity is the different attitude that the system (composed of the Ministry of Education and the local authorities, teachers, principals, parents and the students themselves) displays toward people from different classes, communities, religions and national groups in Israel. This divergent attitude results in vast differences in the quality of learning, and as a result of this, in educational achievements,” states a report by the Adva Research Center published in April 2013. The report focuses on the Ministry of Education’s policies concerning school budgets. The Adva Center itself has focused for years on the study of Israeli society, investigating equality and social justice in the country and denouncing bigotry and discrimination.
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