Less than half of all Israeli high school graduates were eligible to earn a matriculation-level diploma this year, according to figures released Tuesday by the Ministry of Education.
The statistics do not apply to communities of fewer than 10,000 residents, nor do they include students who dropped out of 12th grade.
The figure -- 44.4 percent -- is two percent less than last year's graduating class. But even as far back as five years ago, barely 50 percent of all graduates completed the requirements for the bagrut, or matriculation diploma, which is required for entry to higher education.
The spread of high schools whose students managed to pass the examinations runs from one end of the spectrum to the other, in both the Jewish and Arab sectors. However, the gap between leading towns and those where students did not do as well appears to have widened over the years.
Approximately 64 percent of students passed their bagrut exams in leading towns between 2001 and 2008, a statistic which varied little over the years. However, among the towns where students trailed, the percentage of those passing the exams dropped from 55 percent to 49 percent.
Only 15 percent of Jewish students in the largely hareidi-religious city of Bnei Brak earned a bagrut diploma this June. Students in the Gush Etzion community of Beitar Illit did not do much better. In Kochav Ya'ir, however, 82.3 percent of the town's 17-year-olds passed their examinations.
Leading the Arab sector was the Israeli Arab town of Fureidis, in the Haifa district, with 75.85 percent of its graduating students having earned the academic diploma. By contrast, the Arab community of Arara came in last, along with Jisser a-Zarka.