Senator Villanueva: PH's PISA 2025 gains show education reforms ‘working’

Senator Joel Villanueva on Wednesday hailed the Philippines’ improved performance in the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), saying the results showed that reforms in the country’s basic education sector were moving in the right direction.

In a privilege speech, Villanueva said the Philippines recorded its highest PISA scores in Science, Mathematics, and Reading since it first participated in the assessment in 2018.

He noted that the country had ranked last in Reading and second to last in Mathematics and Science when it first joined PISA in 2018.

The senator said the country’s performance remained relatively flat in the 2022 assessment following the COVID-19 pandemic, but improved across all three domains in 2025.

The Philippines was also recognized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as the fastest-improving country in Reading over the past decade, Villanueva said.

More Filipino students likewise reached the PISA baseline proficiency level, with the proportion rising from 23% to 32% in Science, 16% to 21% in Mathematics, and 24% to 31% in Reading.

“No country has improved its reading skills faster than the Philippines,” Villanueva quoted OECD Director for Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher as saying.

Villanueva said the results were particularly significant because PISA assesses 15-year-old students, making the improvements an indication that Filipino learners were performing better than their counterparts in the previous assessment cycle.

He also cited estimates from Stanford University researchers, as relayed by Schleicher, that bringing all Filipino 15-year-olds to at least PISA proficiency Level 2 could add around $14 trillion to the Philippine economy over their working lives.

Villanueva credited the 2018 PISA results for exposing the country’s learning crisis and helping trigger the creation of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) in 2022.

“Ang resulta ng PISA 2018 na naglantad ng learning crisis sa bansa ang naging pangunahing trigger ng pagtatatag ng EDCOM 2 noong 2022,” he said.

He said that over the past four years, Congress, in partnership with EDCOM 2, had advanced reforms in basic education, including the Excellence in Teacher Education Act, the Expanded Career Progression System for Public School Teachers, and the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning Program.

Villanueva also praised EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee for his leadership in pushing education reforms.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say, na yung initials ni Dr. Karol Mark Yee na KMY, ang ibig sabihin po talaga n’yan ay Key Metrics Yielded,” Villanueva said.

“KMY, you haven’t just met our expectations; you’ve blown past them, making sure our education reforms actually get done instead of just getting discussed,” he added.

Despite the gains, Villanueva said the country should not become complacent and should continue investing in teachers, improving teacher education and training, reducing their administrative workload, and providing schools with adequate resources.

“The latest PISA results should give us hope, but they should also give us urgency,” he said.

“Let us use this improvement as a springboard for bigger and more meaningful reforms,” he added.