The results of the PISA program, which was conducted in early 2025, confirm the need for major reforms in our education system, according to the Minister of Education, Sports, and Youth, Dr. Athina Michaelidou, in a written statement on Tuesday regarding the PISA results, which were announced on Tuesday by the OECD.
“The results of this major study on education confirm the need for serious reforms in our education system. They demonstrate precisely the essence, as well as the value, of the educational reform we are implementing as a government,” notes the Minister of Education.
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“The focus on changing the pedagogical model, the orientation toward critical thinking and the ability to apply knowledge, as well as the emphasis on children’s resilience, are already showing positive changes in specific indicators,” she adds.
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“The OECD emphasizes that, on average, all EU countries saw a decline in performance compared to 2022. This widespread trend underscores the international need to adapt education systems to the new skills required by the modern era,” said Ms. Michaelidou, noting that “precisely for this reason, we have made educational reform a non-negotiable priority.”
The Minister of Education further notes that “for Cyprus, performance remained essentially stable in the subjects of Science and Reading Comprehension, while there was a decline in Mathematics, as in all countries.”
“A particularly positive finding for Cyprus is the increase in the percentage of resilient students—who, although they belong to the lowest socioeconomic level, have achieved better performance at the higher end of the assessment scale,” he emphasizes, adding that there was an increase of 2.3 percentage points in Science, 3.2 in Mathematics, and 4.5 in Reading Comprehension.
Furthermore, he notes that there has been an overall reduction in the performance gap among students based on socioeconomic background across all subject areas, while at the same time the impact of socioeconomic background on student performance in Cyprus is smaller than that in other EU countries.
These findings, Athina Michaelidou emphasizes, “allow us to be optimistic about the priorities and direction we are setting for education, by broadly enhancing opportunities for all children and aiming for a more inclusive school system, thereby limiting the impact of social inequalities.” At the same time, he notes that “our priorities are guiding us, and they require time to contribute to a substantial improvement in learning outcomes.”
“The results of the PISA assessment, an important tool for improving education systems, is what we expected, and it is the reason why we are committed to promoting substantial reforms in the education system,” he points out, adding that “it guides our priorities, which, as we have repeatedly stated, are centered on the policy of ensuring quality education for all children.”
“As a government, we have chosen to improve public schools. We want better learning outcomes for all children; we are working systematically toward this goal and investing resources, thereby laying the foundation for the modernization of the public school system,” the Minister of Education emphasizes.
“The data confirm that there is still much to be done, but at the same time they validate our reform choices. We do not rely solely on international surveys to track progress,” she notes. “The local surveys and assessments we are already conducting in elementary and secondary education enable us to implement the interventions and targeted actions necessary to ensure that, in the coming years, we have the educational system our children and our region deserve,” he adds.
“To this end, we are not limiting ourselves to existing initiatives, but are also working closely with experts from the OECD’s PISA program,” says Athina Michailidou. “Together, we have developed a comprehensive and targeted action plan, drawing on international expertise to achieve optimal learning outcomes. This collaboration ensures that the reforms we are implementing will yield tangible results, transforming challenges into measurable progress for our children and the public school system,” she notes.
“The results will be analyzed further, taking into account the overall European picture as well as Cyprus’s performance over time,” emphasizes the Minister of Education.
“Our goal is clear and measurable: better learning, more skills, better academic outcomes, and more opportunities for every child,” she emphasizes.
“This is the reform we are implementing. And this is the change we want to see reflected in progressively higher performance and in the results of international surveys in the coming years,” she concludes.
SOURCE: CNA
