Romania education system faces crisis following PISA 2025 results

The PISA 2025 results have revealed significant challenges within the Romanian education system, with student performance in mathematics, reading comprehension, and science falling below the OECD average. Notably, reading comprehension scores dropped by 16 points compared to 2022 results.

Experts highlight a rising crisis of functional illiteracy. Data indicates that the proportion of Romanian students falling below basic competency thresholds has increased by 14% over the last decade. This trend suggests that nearly half of the 15-year-old population struggles with fundamental reading and comprehension skills, despite being able to technically read.

Analysts point to systemic issues rather than a lack of instructional hours. Key concerns include a deep socio-economic divide between urban and rural access to quality education, an outdated educational model focused heavily on memorization, and the failure of recent policy reforms to address root causes. Experts suggest that successful systems focus on ensuring a minimum competency level for the entire student population rather than solely supporting academic elites.