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Armenian education authorities on Thursday commented on the results of the PISA assessment, acknowledging that while the findings reveal “existing problems” in the country’s education system, they also show that the ongoing reforms are moving in the right direction.
The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport highlighted the following actions as the basis for this assessment.
Transition from a knowledge-based standard to a competency-based standard,
According to the World Bank’s assessment, a positive trend has been recorded in mathematics and science results in Tavush, where the new standard was piloted,
The results of the graduation examination of the first graduates who studied under the new standard are higher,
The new state standard for general education has been fully introduced in grades 1-12 starting from this academic year,
A 25 percent additional payment is provided to STEM teachers,
Promoting reading is one of the objectives of the Government’s 2026-2031 program,
One in every three teachers has undergone voluntary certification (a base salary of AMD 200,000, plus an additional payment of 30-50 percent),
Additional payment for teachers at rural schools with up to 100 students: a salary of up to one full-time position, regardless of the number of classes taught,
Improvement of the qualification category system (up to a 50 percent additional payment),
State funding for the education sector has increased year by year, reaching approximately 180 percent of the 2018 level in 2026, at around AMD 354 billion, the majority of which—approximately AMD 301 billion—constitutes funding for general education,
School construction program: of the new schools being constructed and renovated by 2026, 226 are already ready, while the rest will be ready by the end of the year. In parallel, the program for the next 300 schools has been approved; the list of institutions is currently under discussion. Eighty-six percent of schools have STEM laboratories,
The number of teacher vacancies has decreased: compared with around 1,400 vacancies in 2023, there are around 700 vacancies in 2025,
Around 4,000 new teachers have entered schools over the past two years, 80 percent of whom are under the age of 45.
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Armenian 15-year-olds performed below the international average in mathematics, science and reading, trailing their regional counterparts in the latest assessment.