WATCH: Expanding Arabic instruction in Jewish schools

In May, the Education Ministry announced a plan to make spoken Arabic a mandatory subject in all Hebrew-speaking elementary schools throughout Israel.

This signals a revolution in Arabic language study in the Jewish sector, which until now has been neglected.

While Hebrew is compulsory in Israeli Arab schools from the third through 12th grades, Arabic was until now mandatory in Jewish schools only from the seventh grade, and then only written, not spoken, Arabic. Even this requirement was not fully enforced, with some schools offering no Arabic at all. And in 2014, then-Education Minister Shay Piron reduced the number of years of mandatory Arabic from four to three years.

The plan to expand Arabic studies comes after a successful 10-year pilot program of spoken Arabic instruction in selected fifth- and sixth-grade classes. The program, called Ya Salaam, started in 30 schools and spread to 200 schools in the Jewish sector. In addition to Arabic language, the schoolchildren were exposed to Arab culture, including traditional storytelling, bilingual theater, puppet shows, and musical workshops. The program was developed by the Abraham Fund Educational Initiatives, an NGO that works to promote coexistence and equality among Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens.

In this episode of Israel Hayom Insider, Abraham Fund Educational Initiatives Director Hazar Masri-Hussein and Development Director Anton Goodman speak with Opinion Editor Steve Ganot about the plan.

Anchor: Steve Ganot. Camera: Doron Persaud. Makeup: Meirav Darzi Meiri. Archive: The Abraham Fund Initiatives.