Israel will roll out AI-assisted English lessons to every public middle school in the next academic year, the prime minister and education minister said on June 11, as the country grapples with a severe shortage of trained English teachers. Nearly 40% of the 19,000 English teachers in the public system lack formal teaching credentials, and only 22% of ninth graders met curriculum standards in last year's national exams.
The initiative follows a pilot of 28 schools that the Education Ministry described as "a success," though no data have been released. The full-scale program, backed by a NIS 130 million ($45 million) budget, is part of a broader push to weave artificial intelligence into classrooms across Israel.
A 'revolution' or a band-aid?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Yoav Kisch announced the plan during a visit to a middle school in the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim. Kisch called it "one of the most significant and ambitious revolutions ever carried out in the education system," adding that it would let every student learn at their own pace. Netanyahu framed the move as putting Israel "at the forefront of the world's leading nations in integrating AI into education."
But some educators see the push as a workaround, not a solution. "It's just another band-aid for the real problem: there are not enough teachers," one English teacher from northern Israel told Haaretz. "There is no substitute for learning in front of a teacher, especially at this age."
The dual program, named Project 720 and English for Everyone, aims to address the teacher gap with screens. Project 720, which will also expand to math and science this year, is built on a philosophy of 720 degrees - 360 around the student and 360 around the teaching staff, according to the ministry.
What the research says
A growing body of research raises red flags about displacing human instruction with screen-based learning. A 2024 Columbia University study found that middle schoolers comprehend text better from paper than from a screen. A sweeping report from the Brookings Institution earlier this year, based on interviews with over 500 people across 50 countries and a review of more than 400 studies, concluded that the current risks of using AI in education "overshadow its benefits," largely because they can undermine children's foundational development.
Dr. Yishay Mor, head of the Artificial Intelligence and Education Program at Beit Berl College, told Haaretz that students often prefer videos over text but retain far less from them. The Education Ministry said it would pursue a balance between digital and traditional methods, coupled with lessons on digital literacy and a push to reduce mobile phone use in schools.
The missing pieces: devices and training
Teacher training for the AI programs will not begin until the start of the school year, the ministry said, and the rollout will rely on schools' existing digital infrastructure. A selection process is underway for the specific tools that will power the lessons. Meirav Zarviv, deputy director general of the Innovation and Technology Administration, said "most of the budget is intended for training" and emphasized a "teachers first" approach. Still, many details about device procurement and long-term infrastructure remain unanswered.
For educators looking to build their own skills ahead of formal training, self-paced options like an AI Learning Path for Teachers can offer practical grounding. Wider resources on AI for Education also detail how technology might fit into classroom instruction without displacing the teacher-student relationship.
Why this matters for education professionals
Israel's bet on AI teaching tools is not an isolated experiment - it mirrors a global tension between teacher shortages and the lure of algorithm-driven instruction. The Brookings report's warning that AI's risks currently surpass its benefits, combined with the absence of pilot data, should give educators pause. For those in the classroom or designing curriculum, the case underscores the need to approach AI as a possible supplement, not a substitute, and to insist on evidence before scale.
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