However the Ministry of Education is not responsible for the supplementary curricula, for hiring and firing teachers or for registration of pupils. Admissions criteria may also be stricter than in state schools. Independent schools include schools which are recognized by the Ministry of Education and those that are unofficial and unrecognized. Recognized schools include both general and religious schools, and the basic Ministry of Education curriculum is obligatory. However, staff and parents determine the instructional and educational norms of each school.
Parental influence is especially significant.
What distinguishes these schools, which at the elementary level are few in number, are their special curricula or educational methods, as in, for example, the experimental schools. Almost all high schools have the legal status of independent, recognized schools. Rather than being administered by the Ministry of Education, they are run by public bodies such as municipalities, national networks and local committees. Schools that are unofficial and not recognized by the Ministry of Education include the Cheder and Talmudei Torah run by various religious groups. These schools do not adhere to the basic state curricula, but follow their own curricula and use their own pedagogical methods, with no Ministry of Education intervention whatsoever.