Education at Rock Bottom or Heroism Under Bombs? Why PISA-2025 Results Divided Ukrainian Society

Ukraine became the only country in the world to organize and conduct this large-scale assessment directly amid a full-scale war. However, behind the dry formula "results held steady" lies an alarming reality: a deep chasm between urban and rural areas, a catastrophic slump in reading literacy, and fierce debate over whether this "resilience" is a reason for complacency.

Testing Under Air-Raid Sirens

Operational Friction: Testing across 17 relatively safe regions required extreme operational flexibility. Nearly 70% of participating students reported missing classes due to shelling right before the tests.

Infrastructure Challenges: School shelters served as test rooms during constant air raids, generators powered computers through blackouts, and severe shortages of digital devices and teaching staff burdened administrators.

Crucial Omission: Seven frontline and partially occupied regions—including Kharkiv Oblast, a key educational hub—were excluded due to safety risks. This creates a critical "blind spot" for the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), hindering objective loss assessments and targeted aid for heavily shelled communities.

Core Scores & Global Positioning

Scores: Ukraine averaged 448 in Science (-34 vs. OECD average; ~1.7 years behind), 431 in Mathematics (-32 vs. OECD), and 418 in Reading (-43 vs. OECD; over 2 years behind). Over 56% of students fell below basic proficiency in at least one subject.

Regional Ranking: Ukraine holds a middle position in Eastern Europe—lagging significantly behind leaders like Estonia, Poland, and Slovakia, but outperforming Bulgaria, Moldova, and Georgia.

Deepening Rural-Urban Disparity

Severe Gap: Students in rural villages lag behind their urban peers by 3 to 3.5 years of schooling across all subjects (68 points in reading, 65 in science, 61 in math).

Socioeconomic Factor: Performance correlates heavily with family wealth. Rural blackouts, poor internet, and severe teacher shortages have widened this inequality into an existential threat.

Digital Resilience & AI Adoption

Bright Spot: Ukrainian teens scored 478 points in the "Learning in the Digital World" domain.

AI Integration: Over 54% of Ukrainian students use AI tools for learning weekly—exceeding the OECD average—demonstrating strong technological adaptability.

Public & Policy Reaction

Government View: Focuses on resilience and physical safety, citing over ₴20 billion invested in 352 underground school shelters to move away from exhausted online learning formats.

Expert Criticism: Analysts warn against using war as an excuse for systemic stagnation, stressing that holding low scores endangers post-war national recovery.

Expert Recommendations

Launch a National Basic Literacy Recovery Program focused on reading comprehension.

Implement localized monitoring of learning losses to aid individual schools.

Redirect financial and teaching resources directly to rural and frontline communities.

Read more in the Ukrainian edition....