PISA 2025: Indonesia’s scores rise as global performance declines

Indonesia’s reading and science scores improved in PISA 2025, even as scores in science, reading and mathematics across OECD countries have declined over the past 25 years, according to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

Science literacy rose six points, from 383 in PISA 2022 to 389, while reading literacy also increased by six points, from 359 to 365. Mathematics fell from 366 to 364.

Toni Toharudin, head of the ministry’s Agency for Primary and Secondary Education Policy, said the results suggested that policies focused on enriching teacher competence and strengthening literacy were moving in the right direction. He said the key achievement was not Indonesia’s position in the PISA rankings, but students’ growing ability to reason, solve problems and continue learning throughout life.

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Our success is not Indonesia’s rise in the PISA ranking, but the increasing ability of our students to reason, solve problems and learn throughout life.

The ministry also highlighted Indonesia’s Coverage Index, which measures the proportion of 15-year-olds enrolled in formal education. The index rose from 0.46 when Indonesia first took part in PISA in 2003 to 0.90 in 2025.

Toni described the increase as evidence of a significant expansion of education access across Indonesia. He said the next challenge was to implement current policies consistently and ensure they improve students’ learning experiences in every classroom. The ministry said it was preparing follow-up strategies based on the 2025 results.

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This is evidence of a significant expansion of access to education throughout Indonesia, including since Indonesia fully switched from paper-based testing to computer-based testing starting with PISA 2018.