Matriculation eligibility rate in Netanya reaches 87.5%, the city's highest in a decade

The share of students eligible for a bagrut (Israeli matriculation certificate) in Netanya stood at 87.5% in the 2024-25 school year (Hebrew year 5785). The data come from the Education Ministry's “Educational Picture” report, which was published this week and presented by the Netanya Municipality. According to the municipality, this is the highest rate recorded in the city in the past decade.

In the previous year, 2023-24, the city's eligibility rate was 84.8%. In 2015 it was only 67.6%, so within a decade there was a rise of almost 20 percentage points. The national average in 2024-25 was 77.9%, and Netanya is 9.6 percentage points above it.

In English, too, the city is above the average. At the 5-unit level (the highest level), the rate in Netanya was 51.6%, compared with 48.7% nationwide, and at the 4-unit level it was 23.3%, compared with 18.5%. In mathematics the picture is mixed: at the 4-unit level the city is above the average, with 25.1% compared with 22.9%, but at the 5-unit level it is slightly below, with 16.3% compared with 17.1%.

The municipality noted that the overall figure also includes new immigrants who take their exams in Hebrew shortly after arriving, special education students, and some of the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) students who do not sit for the bagrut exams.

Mayor Avi Salama praised the education staff and said the achievement reflects shared professional work, and promised to keep investing in the system. At the municipality's Education and Society Administration, the rise was attributed to tutoring programs, close tracking of students' progress, personalized support and expanded options for completing the exams.