Thai students ranked 53rd in the PISA 2025 assessment for solving problems in science and mathematics, with average scores improving across all areas compared to previous results. Schools under the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) that expand opportunities showed significantly higher scores. China continues to hold the number 1 position, followed by Singapore.
Today (8 Sep 2026), the PISA 2025 results were announced at a press conference attended by Mr. Akkaranan Kankittinan, Deputy Minister of Education, and Associate Professor Dr. Theeradej Jearsuksakul, Director of the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (IPST), who jointly unveiled the assessment outcomes.
The report states that the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) evaluates the competencies of 15-year-old students every three years to track trends in education quality. It assesses knowledge in three areas: reading literacy, mathematical literacy, and scientific literacy.
PISA 2025 involved over 760,000 students worldwide participating in the assessment as representative samples.
These students represent about 33 million 15-year-olds from 91 countries and economies. In Thailand, the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (IPST), acting as the national PISA coordinating center, conducted the PISA 2025 exam in August 2025 with 8,547 student participants from 273 educational institutions covering all education sectors.
For the results, the average science competency score among OECD member countries is 482 points. China’s four regions (Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang) and Singapore have the highest average scores among all participating countries and economies.
China’s four regions achieved the highest average score of 597 points, while Singapore scored an average of 560 points. The next highest average science scores come from Macau, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Estonia, Korea, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
For mathematics and reading assessments, OECD member countries averaged 463 and 461 points, respectively. China’s four regions had the highest average math score of 612 points, followed by Singapore with 563 points. In reading, Singapore led with an average score of 535 points, followed by China’s four regions with 527 points.
Compared to PISA 2022, OECD member countries experienced statistically significant declines in average reading and mathematics scores—dropping by 14 and 9 points respectively—while science scores decreased by 3 points but without statistical significance.
Meanwhile, eight countries and economies showed statistically significant average score increases across all three areas compared to PISA 2022: Georgia, Cambodia, Jordan, Montenegro, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Turkey, and the Philippines.
Beyond science, mathematics, and reading, PISA 2025 also assessed digital learning skills, measuring two areas: computational problem-solving and self-regulated learning. Results for computational problem-solving were released with the main assessments, with OECD countries averaging 500 points. Macau achieved the highest average score of 572 points, followed by five Asian economies: Singapore, China’s four regions, Japan, Chinese Taipei, and Hong Kong. The self-regulated learning results will be published in 2027.
Thai students ranked 53rd, showing improvement compared to previous results.
Thai students achieved average scores of 432 in science, 407 in mathematics, 392 in reading, and 476 in computational problem-solving, all below the OECD average.
Female students scored higher than males in science, mathematics, and reading, except in computational problem-solving where male students scored higher on average.
Regarding science competencies, Thai students averaged 434 points in designing and evaluating scientific inquiry processes and critically interpreting scientific evidence, higher than their average scores in explaining scientific phenomena and in investigating, evaluating, and using scientific information for decision-making and action, which were 428 and 429 points respectively.
Compared to PISA 2022, Thailand’s average scores increased in all three areas, with science rising by 23 points, and mathematics and reading each increasing by 13 points.
Analyzing by school groups, science-focused schools scored above the OECD average in all areas and close to the averages of the highest-scoring countries and economies.
Demonstration schools scored above the OECD average in science and mathematics, while their reading scores were close to the OECD average. Other school groups scored below OECD averages in all areas.
Compared to PISA 2022, nearly all school groups showed average score improvements, notably the opportunity-expanding schools under the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC), which had statistically significant increases in all three areas. Schools under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration showed significant gains in science and mathematics, while secondary schools under OBEC and local government organizations had significant improvements in science scores.
Comparing average science, mathematics, and reading scores between high-achieving students (90th percentile) and low-achieving students (10th percentile) in Thailand reveals a roughly 200-point difference in each area.
Compared to PISA 2022, this score gap between the two student groups remained unchanged across all three areas.
Students in Thailand's top socioeconomic group (75th percentile and above) scored 55 points higher in science than those in the lowest socioeconomic group (below the 25th percentile), a narrower gap than the 85-point difference seen among OECD member countries.
From PISA 2015 to 2025, this science score gap between high- and low-socioeconomic groups in Thailand remained stable, while OECD countries saw a narrowing gap due to improvements among disadvantaged students, whereas advantaged students maintained their average scores.
Regarding 'White Elephant' students—those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged but achieve top science scores (75th percentile and above)—Thailand has 17% of students in this group, compared to 12% in OECD countries. This indicates these students demonstrate strong academic performance despite economic and social challenges.
