Amid China’s growing international economic and political influence, the number of Israeli students learning Mandarin in schools has multiplied by five in the last four years, from 600 in 2012 to 3, 200 in 2017’s academic year.
Since 2009, Israeli high school students have been able to study only the Chinese language. Due to the high demand, Education Ministry officials decided in 2014 to also allow study of Chinese culture and history, providing background for China’s current status as an economic and political global power.
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Mandarin is offered in some 110 elementary and high schools will begin teaching Mandarin as an elective course, from third grade all the way to twelfth.
The demand for studying Chinese in Israel is growing by the year. The average grade in the matriculation exam is relatively high at 95. The 100 students who have elected to study Mandarin this year outnumber those studying Italian (70) and German (55), according to Ynet News.
Students who have chosen to be tested on Yiddish skills on their matriculation exams still significantly surpass the number of Mandarin at 300. Three hundred fifty pupils will be tested on their Amharic, 380 on Spanish, 1, 600 on French and 9, 000 in Arabic (from the non-Arab population).
