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Armenia has participated for the first time in the PISA 2025 (Programme for International Student Assessment) international assessment of students. The assessment was conducted in Armenia from March to May 2025, involving around 7,000 students from 295 schools.
According to the Department of Public Relations and Information of the Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, the study, conducted among 15-year-old students, covered three areas: reading, mathematics and science.
The PISA study is conducted every four years and shows how well students are able to apply their knowledge in different situations. A total of 91 countries participated in the 2025 assessment.
The main results of the PISA 2025 international study were presented on September 8 with the participation of education officials, international partners, experts and representatives of the sector.
Armenian Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan, Deputy Ministers Anna Babajanyan and Kristina Tataryan, UNICEF Deputy Representative in Armenia Silvia Mestroni, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Armenia Frank Hess, and representatives of sectoral institutions attended the event.
In her welcoming remarks, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan noted that Armenia’s participation in the PISA study had for many years been one of the important objectives of state policy in the field of education. Following preparatory work launched in 2022, Armenia had the opportunity in 2025 to participate fully in the study for the first time.
“The results of the PISA international study, on the one hand, reveal the problems existing in Armenia’s education system and, on the other hand, show that the reforms launched in the sector are moving in the right direction. Referring to the importance of an independent international assessment, the Minister noted that such studies provide an opportunity not only to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the country’s education system, but also to compare Armenia’s results with those of other participating countries,” Andreasyan said.
According to the Minister, a significant part of the problems identified by the study has already been incorporated into state education policy, with appropriate steps outlined to address them.
The Minister noted that the results should be analysed in detail and become the subject of professional discussion in order to plan future policies and actions more effectively. Thematic discussions involving teachers, school principals, education experts and other specialists are planned in the near future.
“Together with teachers, we need to understand where our main problems lie and what we can do to improve the situation. Particular attention will be paid to the effective management of schools, which continues to remain one of the key challenges of the general education system and is also reflected to some extent in the PISA results,” the Minister stressed.
According to Zhanna Andreasyan, the PISA results show that one of the important issues is increasing students’ motivation.
“We need to pay greater attention to this issue, review the approaches being applied and establish a more effective dialogue with students. It is important to understand what factors affect students’ motivation and what changes are needed in the educational process to increase their interest and engagement,” she said.
According to the Minister, the PISA results also highlight the importance of the educational environment and infrastructure. In this context, state programmes aimed at improving conditions in schools will continue with the support of international partners.
The Minister said the study had particularly highlighted the issue of students’ ability to apply the knowledge they have acquired in practical situations.
“The outcome of education reforms also depends on the extent to which they are implemented in practice in schools and classrooms. The new state standard for general education is also aimed at overcoming precisely this challenge. These data are a baseline for us: they show the situation as it was before the full introduction of the new standard. I hope that in four years we will already be able to see the impact of the new standard and changes in the results,” the Minister said, stressing that teachers should work with materials and textbooks developed in accordance with the new standard.
At the same time, she stressed that Armenian schools have strengths — adaptability, goal-setting, awareness of the value of school and others — which can serve as a basis for further reforms and improvements in the quality of education.
“The results of the PISA study provide countries with an important opportunity to assess the progress of their education systems and outline further steps to ensure their continuous development and quality learning. UNICEF is ready to support further steps aimed at improving the quality of education in Armenia for the benefit of all children,” UNICEF Deputy Representative in Armenia Silvia Mestroni said, noting that UNICEF had supported the analysis of the data, the preparation of the national report and consultations with stakeholders.
The results of the PISA study were presented by Tamara Aleksanyan, Head of the Strategic Planning and Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport.