Overview
- This week PISA 2025 showed a statistically significant fall in Peru’s reading score from 408 to 390 and declines in mathematics and science, reversing gains made by 2022.
- Analysts link the decline to long‑standing system faults such as frequent policy changes, weak ministry leadership, politicized decision‑making and widespread infrastructure and material shortages in schools.
- The poorest students are worst affected: 77% of those in the bottom 25% by socioeconomic level did not reach PISA’s minimum reading benchmark and 58% of all students are below level 2.
- The government announced the Plan Nacional de Educación 2026–2031 with new schools, internet rollout and a stated return to merit‑based teacher evaluation, but cancelling ENLA 2026 has removed a key national measurement tool for tracking progress.
- Other factors flagged include large recent increases in education spending that were not tied to measurable accountability, rising weekly use of AI tools by students without critical evaluation training, and small drops in student curiosity that may weaken recovery efforts.