1 out of 4 were low performers in maths, reading and science.
PARIS, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Teenagers' mathematics and reading skills are in an unprecedented decline across dozens of countries and COVID school closures are only partly to be blamed, the OECD said on Tuesday in its latest survey of global learning standards.
The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said it had seen some of the steepest drops in performance since 2000 when it began its usually triennial tests of 15-year-olds reading, maths and science skills.
"COVID probably played some role but I would not overrate it," OECD director of education Andreas Schleicher told a news conference.
Poorer results tended to be associated with higher rates of mobile phone use for leisure and where schools reported teacher shortages.
The OECD said the decline was not inevitable, pointing to Singapore, where students scored the highest in maths, reading and science, with results that suggested they were on average three to five years ahead of their OECD peers.
In reading, Ireland, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan earned top marks, and was all the more notable in Ireland and Japan because their spending per student was no higher than the OECD average. »
