Overview
- Tuesday's release of PISA 2025 found only 30% of Peruvian 15-year-olds reach the minimum level in mathematics, 42% in reading and 47% in science, with scores falling nine points in math and 18 points in reading since 2022.
- National ENLA data complement the international picture by showing steep falls in reading comprehension across grades, with about 35% of fourth graders reading at level and just 11% of fifth-year secondary students understanding texts.
- Analysts and educators link the decline to long-term problems in policy continuity, weak ministry leadership, territorial inequality and low school-level authority rather than a single recent shock.
- Structural factors highlighted include low principal autonomy—only 23% of Peruvian students were in schools where principals had primary hiring responsibility in 2022 versus a 60% OECD average—which experts say limits schools’ capacity to improve teaching and learning.
- Commentators and specialists are urging a depoliticized state pact, stronger teacher career and evaluation systems, focused early literacy and numeracy interventions, and greater principal autonomy as the core elements of a sustained reform agenda.