SHAH ALAM, Sept 8 - Malaysia’s Mathematics performance in the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) declined to 397 points from 409 points in 2022.
Education Minister Datuk Seri Fadhlina Sidek said the decline needed to be taken seriously and should not be viewed merely as a change in a single assessment cycle, Astro AWANI reported.
“That should make us look at the problem more seriously, not become more defensive,” she said.
However, Malaysia’s performance in the other two main domains improved, with the Science score rising to 419 points from 416 points in 2022, while Reading increased to 393 points from 388 points.
Fadhlina said the PISA findings should be viewed beyond academic achievement alone, particularly in terms of students’ ability to apply knowledge to make decisions and solve problems.
“Education is not just about what a child knows at the age of 15.
“Real education can be seen in how they make decisions and act in life using the knowledge they already have,” she said.
Malaysia also scored 484 points in computational problem-solving, placing it among the six best-performing countries.
Fadhlina said the skill involved students’ ability to break down complex problems into smaller parts, identify patterns and key information, and organise steps towards a solution.
These abilities are becoming increasingly important as artificial intelligence (AI) and search engines allow information and answers to be obtained quickly.
“As machines become better at providing answers, humans must become better at asking questions and evaluating,” she said.
Fadhlina said these skills were also being incorporated into the 2027 School Curriculum to prepare students for future needs.
However, she acknowledged that students’ ability to use logic and solve problems had yet to translate into better Mathematics performance.
As such, the Mathematics Education Transformation Plan (RTPM) places greater emphasis on conceptual understanding, reasoning and problem-solving.
“We do not want Mathematics to become a race to find the answer. We want Mathematics to train children to find their way to the answer,” she said.
