Mauritius Lags Behind in PISA 2025 Results

The results of the PISA 2025 international assessment have once again placed Mauritius under the educational spotlight — and the findings make for uncomfortable reading. In this globally recognised evaluation of 15-year-old students, Mauritius recorded an average of 438 points in science, 405 in reading, and 407 in mathematics. All three scores fall significantly short of the OECD averages of 482, 461, and 463 points respectively — gaps of between 44 and 56 points depending on the subject. Perhaps more alarming is the distribution of performance across Mauritian students. A striking 35.1% of pupils were classified as low performers across all three disciplines, compared to the OECD average of just 19.7%. At the other end of the scale, only 3% of Mauritian students reached the highest performance levels, against an OECD benchmark of 11.9% — meaning the island produces proportionally four times fewer top-achieving students than the international norm. **A Gender Divide Worth Noting** The data does reveal some nuance when broken down by gender. In science, girls outperformed boys — 441 points versus 435. The gap is most pronounced in reading, where girls averaged 415 points compared to 395 for boys — a 20-point difference. Mathematics is the one area where boys edge ahead, scoring 409 against 405 for girls, consistent with a global trend. **What This Means for Mauritius** These results arrive at a critical juncture. Mauritius has long positioned itself as a regional hub for education and knowledge-based industries, yet PISA 2025 suggests that foundational literacy and numeracy skills among its youth remain a systemic challenge. The concentration of underperformers — nearly one in three students — raises serious questions about equity within the education system and whether students from disadvantaged backgrounds are being adequately supported. The editorial question policymakers must now answer is not simply why scores are low, but why the gap between Mauritius and OECD nations appears to be persisting across successive PISA cycles. Without targeted reform — whether in teacher training, curriculum design, or early intervention programmes — Mauritius risks producing a generation ill-equipped for a competitive, knowledge-driven economy. The Ministry of Education has yet to issue a formal public response to the PISA 2025 findings.