The latest OECD results must be a wake-up call for Malta’s education system
What Malta needs is a genuine leap in the quality of education.
PISA 2025 global education rankings show Maltese students are getting worse at reading, mathematics and science
The latest OECD results outlined in the PISA global education rankings show that Malta’s performance has declined in mathematics, reading and science since 2022.
In mathematics, only 56% of Maltese 15-year-olds reached at least the minimum proficiency level, compared with 67% in 2022 and 65% across the OECD.
In reading, the figure has fallen from 64% in 2022 to just 52% in 2025, compared with an OECD average of 69%.
In science, only 63% of Maltese 15-year-olds reached at least the minimum proficiency level in 2025, compared with 70% in 2022 and 74% across the OECD.
These are significant declines: 11 percentage points in mathematics, 12 in reading and 7 in science.
PISA is an international benchmark test run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for student assessments across the world. It measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use basic skills in reading, maths and science. It does not measure everything that matters in education, but a decline across all three core domains cannot simply be ignored. These are not just numbers. Behind them are young people, their opportunities and their future.
As a nation, we need to reflect seriously on the state of this vital sector and chart a way forward that serves the common good. This should not become an exercise in political spin or in assigning blame to our educators.
What Malta needs is a genuine leap in the quality of education.
We need to invest in and support our teachers and educators, strengthen literacy and numeracy, tackle educational disadvantage, and create the conditions in which every child can achieve better outcomes.
The PN is willing to make its contribution through serious consultation on the policies and strategies that shape Malta’s education system.
Our ambition should be clear: stop defending the system and start improving it.
Our children deserve better. Our educators deserve better. Malta deserves better.
Jerome Caruana Cilia
Shadow Minister for Education and Citizenship
12.09.2026