Almost half of Ukrainian 15-year-olds lack basic reading and math skills

Almost half of Ukrainian 15-year-olds fail to reach the basic level in reading and mathematics.

These are the findings of the national report on the results of the PISA international education quality assessment.

PISA evaluates how well 15-year-old students can apply knowledge and skills in real-life situations across three key areas: science, mathematics, and reading.

According to the study’s results, at least a third of Ukrainian schoolchildren failed to reach the basic level in each of the three areas: 35% in science, 46% in mathematics, and 45% in reading. In addition, 56.4% of teenagers failed to reach the basic level in at least one area, while 29.3% fell below the basic threshold in all three.

Among those who did reach the basic level in reading (55%), students are able to identify the main idea of a text, locate relevant information, draw simple conclusions, and establish connections between parts of a text. The remaining 45% can only understand the literal content of short and simple texts — more complex structures, non-obvious connections, and the need to draw independent conclusions present serious difficulties for them. Girls significantly outperformed boys in reading skills.

Only a small share of students reached high levels in the three areas: 2% in science, 2.6% in mathematics, and 0.7% in reading. Difficulties in one area are generally accompanied by difficulties in others, while high results are rare and more often appear in only one of them.

Ukraine is participating in the PISA assessment for the third time — in 2018, 2022, and 2025. Data collection in 2025 took place from March 17 to May 4, with 8,962 teenagers from 17 regions taking part in the study. The average results for 2025 were lower than the 2018 figures, particularly in reading. According to the 2018 assessment, more than a third of Ukrainian secondary school students already failed to reach the basic level in mathematics at that time.

The Ministry of Education and Science has attributed the low level of knowledge among Ukrainian children to the legacy of the Soviet system.