The Education Ministry has denied the claim that it removed critical chapters on the principles of liberal democracy from the high school civics matriculation exam syllabus, as stated in a release on Tuesday.
"No changes were made to the civics matriculation exams, and chapters on liberal democracy were not removed from the syllabus. TheMarker's claim that the ministry did so is in fact false, incorrect, misleading, and has no basis," the statement said. It also called on "the media not to echo fake news that undermines public trust in the education system."
The current Israeli civics syllabus has remained unchanged since the COVID-19 pandemic, when certain chapters were removed to facilitate easier studying for both teachers and students, according to the ministry, and will remain as such until June 2026.
TheMarker reported the incident in an article published at the end of August, where it heavily criticized the Education Ministry for removing these chapters.
"Students will not be asked about topics related to principles of liberal democracy, socio-economic rights, the legal status of the Declaration of Independence, and the importance of the constitution in limiting government power," TheMarker wrote.
The article continued by stating that the importance of a constitution as a balancing act to governmental power and the legal status of the Declaration of Independence were also removed.
"In contrast," TheMarker noted, "study material on the law defining Israel as an ethnostate and chapters on nationalism are included in the syllabus."
Expectations of the Education Ministry
TheMarker also claimed that as Israel surges with political discourse, it has become common practice for education to shy away from teaching students ideas that may lead them to further inflame what is happening in the streets.
The article cited the removal of topics such as the power of the High Court of Justice and the importance of protecting freedom of the press in previous years, among others.
According to civics teachers who spoke with TheMarker, the topics removed from the syllabus can still be taught to students, but the change in content is a sign of what the Education Ministry's expectations are.
"We are undergoing a crisis over the character of the state and democracy. It's unreasonable that precisely the topics related to this would be removed from the civics matriculation," said Prof. Yaniv Roznai, Associate Dean of the Law School at Reichman University, to TheMarker.
TheMarker also quoted Prof. Dan Avnon, an expert in political thought and civic education who served as head of the Political Science Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as saying that, "the attempt to remove the liberal-democratic components from civics studies or distort them harms students' ability to arrive with appropriate tools for future struggle against governmental injustices."
"Education ministers think that if schools don't teach students about liberal democracy, then there won't be liberal democracy."