Tel Aviv University campus. Photo: wiki commons.

A new scholarship program focused on better integrating Israel’s Arab students into the higher education system is currently being established as a joint initiative of the Council for Higher Education and the Office of the Prime Minister’s Economic Development Authority for the Arab sector, Maariv reported Tuesday.

The program, which will cost NIS  300 million (roughly $62 million) over six years, is to be launched next year with the allotment of  650 scholarships based on socioeconomic criteria and preferred fields of study.

Education Minister Rabbi Shai Piron said that “the Israeli education system does not properly educate the Arab sector. Gaps between the [Jewish and Arab] sectors are a moral stain on Israeli society. We need to fix it and we can do that.”

According to Maariv, the scholarship program is part of a comprehensive initiative of the Council for Higher Education to offer Israel’s Arab citizens better access to higher education.