Six in ten Cypriot teenagers struggle with reading. More than half fail to reach basic proficiency in mathematics and science. Digital and civic skills paint a similarly troubling picture.
Those are among the findings highlighted by the European Commission in its Education and Training Monitor 2025 for Cyprus, which points to what it describes as a broader quality problem in the education system and warns that it could eventually affect the country's competitiveness.
The Commission notes that a decade of education reforms has been implemented, but says their impact "has not yet been felt".
Reading and core subjects
The first warning sign comes from reading skills.
Only 1.4% of 15-year-olds in Cyprus reach an advanced level in reading, compared with 6.5% across the EU.
At the other end of the scale, more than 50% of students perform poorly in basic skills overall.
The pattern is repeated in mathematics. Some 53.2% of 15-year-olds fail to reach the minimum proficiency level, compared with 29.5% in the EU.
At the same time, only 3.9% achieve high performance, compared with 7.9% across the bloc.
In science, just 2% of Cypriot students reach an advanced level, versus 6.9% in the EU.
According to the Commission, the issue is not only the low performance levels but also the direction of travel.
Between 2018 and 2022, Cyprus recorded one of the sharpest deteriorations in basic skills in the EU. In mathematics, for example, the proportion of low-performing students rose from 36.9% in 2018 to 53.2% in 2022.
The decline has prompted concern at European level. In 2025, the Council of the European Union called on Cyprus to improve students' core skills, while the Commission approved a dedicated support project focused specifically on reversing the trend.
Socioeconomic gap
The report also highlights significant inequalities linked to social background.
Among students from the lowest socioeconomic groups, 69.8% fail to reach minimum proficiency in mathematics, compared with an EU average of 48%.
Only 5.7% of disadvantaged students in Cyprus achieve good results in at least one of the assessed subjects, compared with 16.3% across the EU.
Even among students with more favourable socioeconomic backgrounds, Cyprus trails European averages. Some 32.2% record strong performances, compared with 59% across the EU.
Digital skills lag behind
The Commission found that familiarity with smartphones, tablets and apps does not automatically translate into digital skills.
According to the figures cited in Cyprus's country profile, 59% of second-year secondary school students fail to reach even the basic level of digital competence, compared with 43% in the EU.
The gap is particularly significant given the EU's target of reducing the proportion of low performers to below 15% by 2030.
Cypriot students also scored below their European peers in skills linked to citizenship and civic participation.
In the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), they achieved an average score of 459 points, compared with 511 points across the EU.
The Commission noted that girls perform better than boys in this area and that socioeconomic background again plays a significant role.
STEM concerns
The Commission also links weak performance in mathematics and science to future study choices and labour-market needs.
Only 14.9% of tertiary-level students in Cyprus are enrolled in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), compared with 26.9% across the EU and the European target of 32% by 2030.
The figure has declined by 3.4 percentage points since 2015.
This comes despite forecasts by the Human Resource Development Authority (HRDA) suggesting that four in ten new jobs created between 2022 and 2032 will be related to STEM fields.
The Commission directly links the limited pool of STEM students to weak performance in mathematics and science during school years.
Women in STEM
Women accounted for 33.9% of STEM students in Cyprus in 2023, slightly above the EU average of 32.2%, but below the European target of 40%.
In science-related disciplines, women represent 63.1% of students.
However, the overall share of female STEM graduates in Cyprus fell by 5.3 percentage points between 2015 and 2023.
The Commission says there is still room for improvement in career guidance and efforts to encourage girls to pursue STEM-related studies.
Reforms without measurement
The report notes that Cyprus has introduced strategies, STEM programmes, extracurricular initiatives, approximately €24 million in EU-funded investments in digital education and skills, and actions relating to artificial intelligence.
What remains missing, according to the Commission, is a systematic mechanism for monitoring and evaluating whether those measures are delivering results.
