High-Tech Matriculation

Over the past two years, the education system has put in place the infrastructure for High-Tech Matriculation: a national target, a dedicated administration, allocated resources, the rollout of classes, and data tracking. In 2025, more than 15,000 students, 11.6% of the graduating cohort, earned a High-Tech Matriculation diploma, the highest number on record. The government’s implementation mechanism is taking shape, and the work of building demand and bringing the track into schools on a wide scale has only just begun. The potential is considerable: some 9,900 twelfth graders are currently only one subject short of completing the track.

Over the same period, the Foundation worked alongside the Ministry of Education to lay the groundwork for implementing the national High-Tech Matriculation target. We partnered with municipalities, school networks, and districts to develop action plans that combine government and local resources around measurable targets. Together with Avney Rosha, the Israeli Institute for School Leadership, we trained the school principals taking part in the national program and, alongside them, the municipal excellence coordinators. In parallel, we built a comprehensive data infrastructure that makes it possible to identify trends, gaps, and potential for expansion in every school, municipality, and district, providing a basis for planning, decision-making, and monitoring progress.

In-depth studies prepared for this discussion paint a complex picture of how the new policy is meeting reality on the ground. The term “High-Tech Matriculation” is barely known in schools, and neither the military nor academia recognizes it as a track in its own right. Surveys and interviews with students, teachers, parents, and principals revealed a gap: male students, and fathers of sons, see science excellence in high school as a springboard into high-tech, while female students, mothers, teachers, and principals are wary of the link between science excellence in school and future employment in high-tech.

Into this gap comes the AI revolution, raising new questions. Today’s high-school students will enter the labor market in about a decade, and many are asking whether the considerable effort of studying advanced mathematics, physics, English, and computer science is still justified. Beyond the question of personal value lies a broader one: does the combination of subjects, defined on the basis of past experience, still give the next generation of excellence the knowledge and skills it needs? Or should the content be updated, and the weight of each subject and the connections between them be reconsidered?