New PISA results show that roughly one in three students in Greece is functionally illiterate, meaning they cannot ident...

New PISA results show that roughly one in three students in Greece is functionally illiterate, meaning they cannot identify the main idea of a text or perform basic math like converting dollars to euros. Greece scored 438 in reading comprehension, 45 points below its own peak in 2009 and 43 points below the OECD average. The gap is widening every cycle. In math, Greece sits 45 points below the OECD average in 2025, and in science the deficit has grown from 30 points to 52 points since the surveys began. Between 41% and 49.5% of Greek students fail to reach Level 2, the minimum threshold for basic competency, across the three subjects tested. For comparison, the OECD average share of students falling below that threshold ranges from 25% to 35%. The survey also included computational problem-solving for the first time this cycle. Greece scored 461 against an OECD average of 500, a 39-point gap. According to the OECD, a 20-point difference equals roughly one full year of schooling, putting Greek students nearly two years behind their peers on that measure alone. Analysts point to a 40% cut in secondary education funding during the financial crisis, the country's lack of preparedness for distance learning during the pandemic, and widespread smartphone and social media use as compounding factors. Science laboratories across Greek schools are described as either inactive or fully abandoned in practice, with almost no connection between classroom instruction and real-world application. The article's conclusion is stark. Students who cannot read critically or do basic arithmetic will in a few years be eligible voters, making them easy targets for misinformation and manipulation. The problem, researchers argue, requires less talk and far more structural work than Greece has delivered so far. #Greece #Education #PISA