Paraguay performed poorly because it speaks Guaraní, education minister says in defense of historic PISA collapse

Paraguay’s education minister has blamed the country’s historic collapse in the 2025 PISA tests partly on the fact that many Paraguayans speak Guaraní rather than Spanish. The explanation came after OECD data showed the country had fallen 21 points in reading, from 373 to 352, placing it near the bottom of the regional rankings.

The results also showed that 77% of Paraguayan students did not reach basic proficiency. Luis Ramírez, head of the Ministry of Education and Sciences, pointed to the country’s linguistic divide as a structural obstacle in tests administered in Spanish. “Thirty-one percent of Paraguay’s population speaks only Guaraní, 36% speaks both languages, and only 29% speaks Spanish. So today the people administering the test themselves say that language has a major influence,” he said.

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Thirty-one percent of Paraguay’s population speaks only Guaraní, 36% speaks both languages, and only 29% speaks Spanish. So today the people administering the test themselves say that language has a major influence.

Ramírez said the issue was not Guaraní itself. “It is not that Guaraní is to blame. On the contrary, I believe that if we gave students the questions and allowed them to express themselves in Guaraní, they would perform much better, much higher. That is the reality.” He added that Spanish should be taught in Paraguay as a second language and said the ministry was working on that approach.

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It is not that Guaraní is to blame. On the contrary, I believe that if we gave students the questions and allowed them to express themselves in Guaraní, they would perform much better, much higher. That is the reality.

The minister also revived criticism of teachers’ reading comprehension. He said 109,509 teachers had been assessed, with 79,158 failing the comprehension exam. “That means they did not pass to PISA Level 2. We have three out of every 10 teachers who understand what they read,” he said.

Ramírez also cited the move from paper to screens, saying the 2025 assessment was Paraguay’s first PISA test administered entirely in digital format. Asked about a possible teachers’ strike lasting up to four days from the second half of September, he said an agreement already linked salary adjustments to the consumer price index, which he said would amount to 2.4% in 2027, and said he did not understand the complaints.

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That means they did not pass to PISA Level 2. We have three out of every 10 teachers who understand what they read.