Since 1920 a dual system of national education has gradually developed, formed on a linguistic and racial basis, Arab and Hebrew. Into one or other of these systems, all schools, except some of those maintained by foreign bodies, naturally fall. The Arab system includes all schools, government and non-government, where Arabic is wholly or chiefly the medium of instruction; while the Hebrew system includes all schools where Hebrew is the language of instruction or at least is regarded as the predominant feature of the curriculum.

Palestine, which after the Great War was placed under the mandate of Great Britain, is a country with an area of about 24,000 square kilometers and an increasing population, which according to official figures in the Palestine Blue Book of 1927 was 778,369, of whom 545,225 were Moslems, 147,687 Jews, 76,839 Christians of various denominations, and 8,618 of other faiths.