Cyprus faces a steep challenge in meeting the EU’s 2030 target for the basic skills of 15-year-old students, with PISA 2025 results showing that more than half of Cypriot pupils perform below the basic proficiency level in all three core subjects.
At European level, the goal is to reduce the proportion of low-performing students to below 15% by 2030. In Cyprus, the figure currently exceeds 50% in reading, mathematics and science.
The target refers to the proportion of 15-year-olds who fail to reach Level 2, considered the basic level of proficiency, in Reading Comprehension, Mathematics and Science.
It is an EU benchmark rather than a binding national target imposed separately on each member state. Nevertheless, Cyprus remains significantly further from the benchmark than the EU average.
Cyprus rates far above EU average
In Reading Comprehension, 62% of Cypriot students perform below the basic level, double the EU rate of 31%.
In Mathematics, low performance affects 56% of students in Cyprus, compared with 34% across the EU.
In Science, the figure stands at 52% in Cyprus, exactly twice the EU average of 26%.
The comparison is significant because the EU itself is not currently close to achieving its 2030 objective. The European Commission has already acknowledged that Europe is moving away from the 15% benchmark and has warned about declining basic skills.
For Cyprus, however, the gap is considerably wider.
Questions over student engagement
Another issue highlighted during the presentation of the results concerned the way some students approached the assessment.
According to the data, 24.9% gave incorrect answers to questions on which they spent fewer than 10 seconds, while higher rates of unanswered questions were also recorded.
The Education Ministry stressed that this cannot be used to explain Cyprus’ poor performance. It does, however, consider the finding an indication that there were problems with meaningful student participation in the assessment.
First-generation students record stronger results
The results also reveal notable differences according to students’ migration backgrounds.
In Science, first-generation students from high socioeconomic backgrounds scored 520 points, compared with 452 points among Cypriot students.
A similar gap emerged in Mathematics, where first-generation students scored 512 points compared with 450 for Cypriot students.
In Reading Comprehension, the respective scores were 486 and 415.
Encouraging results among disadvantaged students
Despite the broadly negative picture, the Education Ministry highlighted progress among students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Between 2022 and 2025, their performance improved by:
- 9 points in Mathematics
- 12 points in Science
- 18 points in Reading Comprehension
Cyprus also performs comparatively well in the proportion of so-called “resilient” students, meaning children from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds who nevertheless rank among the country's highest-performing pupils.
In Cyprus, resilient students account for 15% in Science and Mathematics and 17% in Reading Comprehension.
The corresponding EU figures are 12%, 12% and 13% respectively.
PISA 2028 becomes crucial test
Before the 2030 benchmark is reached, Cyprus essentially has one more PISA cycle in 2028 to determine whether the gap has begun to narrow.
That assessment will come as the Education Ministry pursues a series of changes inside classrooms and across the wider education system.
Education Minister Athena Michaelidou stressed that PISA assesses whether students can use and apply knowledge, think critically and solve problems in real-world situations.
According to Michaelidou, the reforms being promoted seek precisely to move education away from memorisation and towards understanding and practical application of knowledge, with the aim of improving learning outcomes.
The changes include:
- Reducing and updating teaching material
- Reforming student assessment
- Revising curricula
- Strengthening digital skills and financial literacy
- Expanding Citizenship Education
- Extending all-day schooling
- Reforming Special Education
- Introducing a new teacher evaluation system
With low-performance rates still exceeding 50% across all three core PISA subjects, the 2028 assessment will provide a crucial indication of whether these reforms are beginning to translate into measurable improvements before the EU’s 2030 benchmark.
