Uzbekistan Improves Its PISA-2025 Science Score

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has officially presented the results of the PISA 2025 international assessment as part of the Education Forum. Uzbekistan, which participated in the assessment for the second time, scored 438 points in science literacy and ranked 48th among 91 countries and education systems, the OECD said.

A total of 8,652 15-year-old students from Uzbekistan took part in the assessment at 233 schools randomly selected by the international organization.

Compared with PISA 2022, when Uzbekistan scored 355 points in science and ranked 80th, the country’s score increased by nearly 83 points. As a result, Uzbekistan climbed 32 places in the ranking.

In the “Learning in the Digital World” domain, Uzbek students scored 402.4 points and ranked 72nd. Science literacy was the main focus of PISA 2025, while the assessment of mathematical and reading literacy will be subject to further analysis.

Among Uzbekistan’s regional neighbors, Kazakhstan scored 420 points in science, ranking 61st, and 449 points in “Learning in the Digital World,” ranking 53rd. Kazakhstan’s science score fell by 4 points compared with 2022. Kyrgyzstan scored 363 points in science, ranking 80th, and 388 points in “Learning in the Digital World,” placing 76th–77th, tied with Azerbaijan.

In Tajikistan, only students from Dushanbe took part in PISA 2025. They scored 334 points in science, one of the lowest results among all participants. Data for Tajikistan in “Learning in the Digital World” were not provided because the assessment was conducted in paper-based format. Turkmenistan did not participate in PISA 2025.

PISA 2025 was the largest assessment in the program’s history, involving 760,000 students from 91 countries and economies. Average OECD scores in mathematics and reading fell to their lowest levels since the assessment began. Low performance in science, mathematics and reading is now recorded among one in five 15-year-old students in OECD countries, compared with 16% in 2022.

Between 2015 and 2025, the average reading score across OECD countries fell by 28 points, equivalent to about one and a half years of schooling, while the mathematics score declined by 22 points, or slightly more than one year of schooling. Among PISA participants that are not OECD members, the decline over the same period was smaller: 16 points in reading and 8 points in mathematics.

A family’s socioeconomic status remains one of the significant factors influencing educational outcomes. Across OECD countries, students from more advantaged families scored an average of 85 points higher in science than their peers from less advantaged backgrounds. The gap between the groups narrowed from 2022 to 2025, but this was mainly due to declining results among more advantaged students rather than improvements among less advantaged students.

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said reversing the downward trend in educational outcomes is an urgent task. He said the most successful education systems focus on fewer areas but study them more deeply, invest in teachers and provide targeted support to students and schools that need it most.

According to Cormann, technology and artificial intelligence can improve the effectiveness of learning when used purposefully, rather than as a substitute for effort and understanding.

The assessment also found that excessive use of digital devices and their use for entertainment during lessons were associated with lower student performance. More than one-quarter of surveyed students said their classmates were distracted by devices during most or every science lesson. Such conditions had a negative impact on academic performance and engagement in learning.

The organizers also highlighted the role of artificial intelligence in preparing written assignments. Students who did not use AI to write texts achieved higher results than those who relied on its assistance. At the same time, among active AI users, the best results were recorded by students who had been taught to assess the quality of information generated by AI.

The OECD plans to publish further analysis of the PISA 2025 results in 2027. The results of the foreign-language assessment will be released in April, while the full results and analysis of the “Learning in the Digital World” assessment will be published in May.