Roughly 1.7 million Israeli children in kindergarten and elementary school will start their summer vacation on Monday, four days after returning to in-person classes, having stayed home during the 12-day war with Iran.
They will join the approximately 850,000 middle- and high school students who began their summer break ahead of time on June 20.
Some 3,000 students have lost their homes due to direct hits of ballistic missiles fired by the Islamic Republic, Israel’s public Kan News reported.
On Tuesday, children’s summer programs run by the Ministry of Education will begin, with around 750,000 registrants.
Roughly 168,000 sixth-graders who began their school experience during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 will receive additional educational programs in light of the challenges they have faced.
The Ministry of Education will permit displaced pupils to register at educational institutions near their temporary residences or sign up for funded transportation to their schools and kindergartens near their original homes.
The ministry, moreover, announced last week that high school students may use their internal school-assigned grades as their final matriculation scores.
Due to the war, the scheduled matriculation exams were disrupted. If students wish to take these instead, they will be able to do so, according to the ministry.
“The Ministry of Education continues to support the children of Israel, through educational, emotional and social programs, wherever they may be,” the ministry said in a statement cited by Hebrew-language outlet Haredim 10.
This school year “began under the shadow of war—and ends with hope. Amid a reality of pain, evacuations and shelters, the Israeli education system rose to the challenge and forged a new path. We moved learning into new spaces, maintained educational continuity and shifted direction toward artificial intelligence, deepening our roots, college studies already in high school, and a science revolution that will restore Israel to the global forefront,” Education Minister Yoav Kisch said, per Haredim 10.
“I extend my heartfelt thanks to all those involved in the educational mission—teachers, principals and educators—for their unmatched dedication, their sense of responsibility and the spirit that sustains the nation. In the coming year, we will continue full force on the path we have begun, for the sake of the children of Israel,” he said
The 5786 (2025-26) school year will begin on Sept. 1.