The Education Ministry's 2007 budget will likely preserve the gaps between Jewish and Arab schools in terms of teaching hours, and development plans for minorities will also be slashed, Haaretz has learned.

Under the proposed budget, Jewish Junior highs and high schools will have three to seven more weekly hours than Arab educational institutions.

The budget plan deals a heavy blow also to the ministry's program for the education of minorities, slashed by 27 percent, and to education in the Arab sector, which will drop by 25 percent.

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The ministry's director general Shmuel Aboav has said that the cuts were made after minority schools have enjoyed additional funding from the plan for rehabilitating the north after the Lebanon war, and from the ministry's five-year plan.

On the other hand, the first budget submitted by Education Minister Yuli Tamir (Labor) and Aboav, includes a significant rise of 15.4 percent in the budgeting of ultra-Orthodox schools affiliated with Shas, as well as a boost to kindergartens and elementary education.

Pre-schools will enjoy an additional NIS 157 million, a 7.8 percent rise, and elementary schools will get NIS 220 million more in 2007, marking a 5.5 percent rise.

Kindergartens, however, will have their budgets slashed by nearly NIS 5 million.

Education Ministry sources have said this supplement reflects the natural growth in the number of students.