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Ministry of Education
משרד החינוך‎
	; Ministry of Education Headquarters
Agency overview
Formed	1949
Preceding agencies	Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport; Ministry of Education and Culture;
Jurisdiction	Government of Israel
Headquarters	Lev Ram Building, Musrara, Jerusalem; 31°47′3.97″N 35°13′26.48″E / 31.7844361°N 35.2240222°E
Annual budget	42 billion New Shekel
Minister responsible	Yoav Kisch;
Agency executive	Meir Shimoni, General Director;
Website	edu.gov.il

The Ministry of Education (Hebrew: מִשְׂרָד הַחִנּוּךְ, translit. Misrad HaHinukh; Arabic: وزارة التربية والتعليم) is the branch of the Israeli government charged with overseeing public education institutions in Israel. The department is headed by the Minister of Education, who is a member of the cabinet. The ministry has previously included culture and sport, although this is now covered by the Ministry of Culture and Sport.

History

In the first decade of statehood, the education system was faced with the task of establishing a network of kindergartens and schools for a rapidly growing student population. In 1949, there were 80,000 elementary school students. By 1950, there were 120,000 - an increase of 50 percent within the span of one year. Israel also took over responsibility for the education of Arab schoolchildren. The first minister of education was Zalman Shazar, later president of the State of Israel.^[2] Since 2002, the Ministry of Education has awarded a National Education Award to five top localities in recognizing excellence in investing substantial resources in the educational system.^[3] In 2012, first place was awarded to the Shomron Regional Council and followed by Or Yehuda, Tiberias, Eilat and Beersheba. The prize has been awarded to a variety of educational institutions including kindergartens and elementary schools.

Activities of organizations in schools

In 2013–2014, the Ministry of Education promoted the regulation of the activities of external parties within the state schools, in a dialogue between the Ministry, the local government, parents' representatives, the business sector and philanthropic parties, as part of what was called "the intersectoral round table in the Ministry of Education". As part of the regulation, the Ministry compiled a database of external programs that have some kind of partnership with a representative from the Ministry of Education's headquarters.

In 2019, a petition was filed by pluralist Jewish organizations against the Ministry of Education due to a procedure that reduces by tens of thousands of shekels the support for the activities of these organizations in schools. In April 2021, the High Court invalidated the procedure in question, and even emphasized the importance of implementing the principles of the Shanhar Committee report on the teaching of Judaism in state education.^[4] In November 2021 it was announced that the Ministry of Education is not implementing the High Court ruling and that the damage to those organizations continues.^[5]

List of ministers

#	Minister	Party	Governments	Term start	Term end	Notes
Minister of Education and Culture
1	Zalman Shazar	Mapai	1	10 March 1949 (1949-03-10)	1 November 1950 (1950-11-01)
2	David Remez	Mapai	2	1 November 1950 (1950-11-01)	19 May 1951 (1951-05-19)	Died in office
3	David Ben-Gurion	Mapai	2	19 May 1951 (1951-05-19)	8 October 1951 (1951-10-08)	Serving Prime Minister
4	Ben-Zion Dinur	Mapai	3, 4, 5, 6	8 October 1951 (1951-10-08)	3 November 1955 (1955-11-03)
5	Zalman Aran	Mapai	7, 8, 9	3 November 1955 (1955-11-03)	10 May 1960 (1960-05-10)
6	Abba Eban	Mapai	9, 10	3 August 1960 (1960-08-03)	26 June 1963 (1963-06-26)
–	Zalman Aran	Mapai, Alignment	11, 12, 13	26 June 1963 (1963-06-26)	15 December 1969 (1969-12-15)
7	Yigal Allon	Alignment	15, 16	15 December 1969 (1969-12-15)	3 June 1974 (1974-06-03)
8	Aharon Yadlin	Alignment	17	3 June 1974 (1974-06-03)	20 June 1977 (1977-06-20)
9	Zevulun Hammer	National Religious Party	18, 19, 20	20 June 1977 (1977-06-20)	13 September 1984 (1984-09-13)
10	Yitzhak Navon	Alignment	21, 22, 23	13 September 1984 (1984-09-13)	15 March 1990 (1990-03-15)
–	Zevulun Hammer	National Religious Party	24	11 June 1990 (1990-06-11)	13 July 1992 (1992-07-13)
11	Shulamit Aloni	Meretz	25	13 July 1992 (1992-07-13)	11 May 1993 (1993-05-11)
12	Yitzhak Rabin	Labor	25	11 May 1993 (1993-05-11)	7 June 1993 (1993-06-07)	Serving Prime Minister
Minister of Education, Culture and Sport
13	Amnon Rubinstein	Meretz	25, 26	3 May 1994 (1994-05-03)	18 June 1996 (1996-06-18)
–	Zevulun Hammer	National Religious Party	27	18 June 1996 (1996-06-18)	20 January 1998 (1998-01-20)	Died in office
14	Yitzhak Levy	National Religious Party	27	25 February 1998 (1998-02-25)	6 July 1999 (1999-07-06)
Minister of Education
15	Yossi Sarid	Meretz	28	6 July 1999 (1999-07-06)	24 June 2000 (2000-06-24)
16	Ehud Barak	One Israel	28	24 September 2000 (2000-09-24)	7 March 2001 (2001-03-07)	Serving Prime Minister
Minister of Education, Culture and Sport
17	Limor Livnat	Likud	29, 30	7 March 2001 (2001-03-07)	14 January 2006 (2006-01-14)
18	Meir Sheetrit	Kadima	30	18 January 2006 (2006-01-18)	4 May 2006 (2006-05-04)
Minister of Education
19	Yuli Tamir	Labor	31	4 May 2006 (2006-05-04)	31 March 2009 (2009-03-31)
20	Gideon Sa'ar	Likud	32	31 March 2009 (2009-03-31)	18 March 2013 (2013-03-18)
21	Shai Piron	Yesh Atid	33	18 March 2013 (2013-03-18)	4 December 2014
22	Naftali Bennett	The Jewish Home, New Right	34	14 May 2015	2 June 2019
23	Rafi Peretz	Union of the Right-Wing Parties	34	17 June 2019	17 May 2020
24	Yoav Gallant	Likud	35	17 May 2020	13 June 2021
25	Yifat Shasha-Biton	New Hope	36	13 June 2021	29 December 2022
26	Yoav Kisch	Likud	37	29 December 2022