Armenia's Students Rank Last in OECD Literacy Assessment
Everyone’s problem, nobody’s fault: Armenia’s literacy crisis
Armenia participated in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for the first time in 2025, with results released Sept. 8. The study of 760,000 students across 91 countries found that Armenian 15-year-olds significantly lag in reading, mathematics, and science. Only 1% achieved the highest performance level in math, while almost no students reached advanced levels in science or reading. Armenia ranks last in the region, behind Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey.
Mher Davtyan, a doctoral researcher in education at Cambridge University and co-founder of NorArar Education, an NGO focused on foundational literacy in Armenia, emphasizes that reading skills serve as a gateway to equitable education. Davtyan argues that rather than assigning blame, stakeholders should recognize their individual responsibility in addressing the crisis, comparing the effort to how drops of water form rivers.
