By David Israel • September 1, 2026
Jerusalem, 1 September, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Schools in northern Israel are starting the new academic year with 143 fewer teachers than before the war, as communities along the Lebanese border struggle to maintain their teaching staffs. In interviews with The Press Service of Israel, educators who remained in the north throughout the war described frustration with a shortage of teachers and with a government recruitment grant they say overlooks educators who stayed and continued working under fire.
The program aims to address a shortage of teachers in the northern communities. Before war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, there were 1,494 teachers in northern communities, according to the Knesset Research and Information Center. Today, 1,351 remain.
The Education and Finance Ministries have finalized a program, funded through the Tnufa LaTzafon Directorate budget, providing a NIS 60,000 ($20,000) grant to new education workers who begin teaching during the 2026-27 school year at educational institutions in communities along Israel’s northern border.
But the grant has drawn criticism from some local educators, particularly teachers who remained in the north and continued working throughout the war.
Tanya, a teacher who lives in Kibbutz Adamit on the Lebanese border, told TPS-IL, “The fine print says that to receive this grant, you have to move your residence from south of the Krayot (Haifa’s suburban towns) to the north. So, even if you’re a brand-new teacher, say someone changing careers like me, but already live in the area, you don’t qualify for this grant.”
A math teacher from Shlomi told TPS-IL, “They taught throughout the past school year while drones were being fired at them. That’s just how it was. They feel that their efforts are being valued less, while the government is trying to bring in new teachers.”
Teacher Shortage Draws Dispute
The government, however, disputed the figures indicating a teacher shortage in the north.
“The Northern District is opening the 2026-27 school year in the best possible way. Everyone is excited. We’re finally opening the school year not under fire, not in the middle of a war,” Vered Levy, spokesperson for the Education Ministry’s Northern District, told TPS-IL.
“We don’t even have a shortage of a Single teacher; I don’t know where you got those figures,” Levy told TPS-IL. “Quite the opposite. We actually have a surplus of teachers, including in the Arab sector.”
She did not comment on the Knesset figures.
Educators have reported declines in academic performance, particularly in core subjects such as math, English and science. Some education officials in the north estimate that students in communities near the border have fallen behind by the equivalent of a full school year compared with students in central Israel.
Long periods of remote learning disrupted regular classroom instruction in northern Israel, while repeated security alerts made it difficult for students to focus.
The Upper Galilee Regional Council serves as the education authority for seven additional local authorities, covering more than 50 communities. The council confirmed to TPS-IL that about 7,000 students from grades 1-12 are enrolled in the local education system, compared with about 8,000 before the war.
“As elsewhere in Israel, there is a shortage of educators in all fields, including teachers, kindergarten staff, aides and therapists,” the council told TPS-IL, noting that some students will continue studying outside their registered communities. Most of the students, the council noted, are special education students for whom no suitable teaching framework is available locally.
Students Facing Learning Gaps
The staffing challenges come as schools in northern Israel continue to contend with significant learning gaps.
“The situation is difficult,” the math teacher from Shlomi told TPS-IL. “Look, they have really been through a lot. Think about it: I’m now getting students in 10th grade who were in 7th, 8th and 9th grade during the war. And for the three years before that, they were dealing with COVID. They are coming in with enormous learning gaps and very significant difficulties. And yes, their mental and emotional state is also very challenging. We are aware that the situation is extremely difficult. They are very confused.”
A January study by the Knesset Research and Information Center found that the education crisis in northern Israel had left many students with significant learning gaps. Thousands are considered at risk of “hidden dropout,” meaning they remain enrolled in school but attend irregularly or are not fully functioning academically.
To help address the learning gaps, the Education Ministry allocated NIS 12 million ($3.98 million) for 99,000 additional teaching hours. It also approved an NIS 3.5 million ($1.16 million) initiative to add 262 support baskets, each consisting of 40 hours of psychological treatment. However, Dr. Orna Shimon, director of the ministry’s Northern District told the Knesset Education Committee in June that filling the staffing needs would be difficult.
In Metula, Israel’s northernmost town, the HaNadiv Elementary School opened its doors for the first time since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel. Only 36 students have enrolled for the 2026-27 school year, compared to the pre-war enrollment of 83.
Ofra Ehrlich is one of the teachers who benefited from the NIS 60,000 grant. She came from Tel Aviv to Metula, where she will teach first- and second-grade students at HaNadiv.
“In Tel Aviv, when children hear the word ‘Lebanon,’ they think it’s some kind of monster. In Metula, children look at Lebanon and see clouds. That’s part of my hope: to remind them that, in the end, this war is something that doesn’t have the same power over them,” she said.
But for teachers who remained in the north throughout the conflict, the challenge is not only filling classrooms but helping students regain confidence in their ability to succeed.
“I’ll tell you the truth,” the math teacher from Shlomi told TPS-IL, “The teachers really give the students the feeling that anything is possible, that we will succeed, get through this together, and that we won’t give up on them.
“That’s our approach at ORT Shlomi: We don’t give up on anyone. It would be easy to say that we’re victims, that we can see the border and that there’s fear. But they keep going. Are there behavioral problems? Yes, there are. But we deal with them.”
