The Adva Center for Social Justice reported Sunday that more than half of Israeli 17 year olds are eligible for a matriculation (bagrut) certificate. Only 44.4% of students who remained in high school until age 17 took their bagrut tests at the end of the school year in recent years, while 55.6% were not.
In addition, the group said, only 38.5% of 17 year olds receive high school diplomas, a prerequisite for getting into college – with the rest ineligible for various reasons. Of those who do qualified in 2000 to enter college, only 31.9% had done so by 2008.