Mexico fails the 2025 PISA evaluation: A perspective from our CEO

The 2025 PISA assessment results were released this morning, and they paint a stark picture of Mexico's struggling education system. As expected, global performance in science, mathematics and reading has continued to decline, with reading emerging as the most significant long-term weakness. Singapore led the pack, followed closely by China, Japan and South Korea. In Mexico, however, the news is far more troubling. Four out of ten Mexican students failed to meet even the basic level in science, math and reading.

The country's performance was worse than in previous years, placing 64th out of 91 participating countries and economies globally. This marks a significant decline from 51st place in 2022. Mexico's ranking in math and reading has slipped further, as well as relative to its own previous performance. The country has experienced five consecutive declines in reading since 2009, with half of Mexican 15-year-olds reading below the minimum proficiency threshold - the threshold required to learn.

The results are a disaster, with Mexico not only falling behind in math and reading scores, but also relative to other countries. This is a significant red flag for the Mexican economy, as the education system's failure puts companies at a disadvantage compared to more skilled workforces. The CEO of Mexico News Daily, Travis Bembenek, warns that solving this problem will take a massive societal effort from parents, teachers, politicians and everyone else to reverse the troubling declines.

He calls for a renewed focus on the fundamentals of reading and writing, even in the age of AI, before it's too late for the next generation.