Israeli Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced a plan that schools will receive extra funding according to the rates of military enlistment, and the plan irked many in the Arab community who called the plan discriminatory, the Ha'aretz daily newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The plan irked many in the Arab community. Many youngsters, who didn't join the army for ideological reasons, called the plan discriminatory.

The plan was part of the reform signed between the ministry and secondary school teachers.

In a letter sent to school principals throughout the country, the ministry announced that the criteria were "educational, social- ethnical improvement in educational achievements and in social- ethnical achievements."

"This is a discriminatory decision which is out of place," Mohammad Heidari, chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee told the Ha'aretz daily newspaper.

"Compensation to schools should be based solely on pedagogic achievements. What's the connection between serving in the Israeli army and schools?" he added.

The decision also prompted Arab parliament member, Ahmed Tibi, to send an urgent letter to Sa'ar.

"Alongside important criteria, like special education and preventing drop outs as well as reaching educational achievements, enlistment in the army is a 20 percent bonus. This is a non- egalitarian criterion which will further widen the gap between Jewish and Arab schools and constitutes as clear discrimination," the letter said.

The Israeli Education Ministry sent a statement to Xinhua in response, the Arab schools will not be compared to their Jewish counterparts, but will be measured among themselves.

The Arab education system has been suffering for many years from neglect, in comparison with the Jewish education system in the country.

According to a recent report based on data gathered by the Central Bureau of Statistics, only 57 percent of Arab teens take the matriculation exams in high school, which are essential part of getting accepted into universities and colleges.

In comparison, 75 percent of Jewish students take the matriculation tests.