Thai PISA scores below OECD averages while Cabinet expands SkillMap
Thailand's three core PISA scores improved from 2022, while the Cabinet approved revisions to the six-year THB4.5 billion SkillMap project targeting 2.5 million users.
- Thailand's 2025 PISA scores were below the OECD average in all assessed areas, including science, reading, and mathematics, though scores did improve compared to 2022.
- The results highlighted a significant skills gap, with 36.9% of Thai students performing below the basic proficiency level in all three core subjects, while only 1.2% reached high proficiency.
- In response, the Thai Cabinet approved the "Thailand Future SkillMap," a THB 4.5 billion, six-year project to create a national individual learning and skills system to upskill the workforce.
- The SkillMap project aims to align worker skills with labor-market needs through a platform offering courses, career recommendations, and professional certification for students and the general public.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, PISA 2025 Results (Volume I): Future-Ready Students, on Tuesday (September 8, 2026).
It found that OECD average scores in science, reading and mathematics in 2025 were the lowest on record, while reading scores had declined after reaching a peak around 2012.
The report also found declines in reading skills essential in the artificial intelligence (AI) era, including evaluating information, connecting information from multiple sources and thinking critically.
The proportion of “hasty readers”, who read and respond quickly but incorrectly, nearly doubled between 2018 and 2025.
Thailand below OECD averages in every assessed area
Thailand scored below OECD averages in every assessed area.
It recorded 432 points in science against an OECD average of 482, 392 in reading against 461, 407 in mathematics against 463, and 476 in computational problem-solving against 500.
“Compared with PISA 2022, Thailand's scores improved in all three core subjects, rising by 23 points in science and 13 points each in reading and mathematics.”
However, the report placed Thailand among non-OECD countries whose science scores rose between 2015 and 2025.
Only 1.2% of Thai students reached the high proficiency levels, Level 5 or 6, in at least one core subject.
A further 36.9% performed below Level 2 in science, reading and mathematics simultaneously, highlighting risks in the basic skills needed for further study, work and everyday life.
Thai students use AI more often than the OECD average
Findings on strengths and weaknesses in AI and digital skills showed that 50.7% of Thai students used AI at least once a week, above the OECD average of 45.5%.
Some 68.9% had learnt how to evaluate AI-generated information, above the OECD average of 62.6%.
The proportion who were not distracted by digital devices during lessons was 32.6%, below the OECD average of 39.2%.
The 8.0% figure for Thai students attending schools with mobile phone bans was not used as a comparative benchmark in the summary.
For behaviour and educational support, Thai students' effort index stood at 0.40, above the OECD average of 0.00, while their curiosity index was 0.00. Only 36.3% of Thai students displayed a growth mindset, below the OECD average of 69.3%.
“The report also found that Thailand was among the countries where students' perceived support from science teachers had increased the most since 2015.
However, only 46.6% of students attended schools with no teacher shortage, while only 36.8% attended schools with no shortage of learning materials.”
In the overall PISA 2025 results, B-S-J-Z (China), comprising Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and Singapore recorded the highest scores in science, mathematics and reading.
Estonia, Japan, South Korea, Macao, Taiwan and the United Kingdom were all among the top 10 in each of the three core subjects.
About three in four participating students had at least basic proficiency in science, enabling them to use scientific knowledge and evidence to explain familiar phenomena and interpret uncomplicated data.
In computational problem-solving, Macao, Singapore, B-S-J-Z (China) and Japan posted the highest scores at 572, 563, 560 and 557, respectively.
Hong Kong, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Macao and Iceland scored more than 30 points above the levels expected from their science scores.
Cabinet approves THB4.5 billion Thailand Future SkillMap
Government House reported that the Cabinet had approved changes to the project's name, implementation period, details and budget, as well as an amendment to the fiscal 2026 list of multi-year budget commitments.
Under the changes, the four-year project to procure an individual higher-education Skill/Credit Portfolio system for national workforce planning and development, scheduled for 2026-2029 with an operating budget of THB5.41375 billion, will be replaced by a six-year project to develop an individual learning and skills system to strengthen Thailand's human capital, known as Thailand Future SkillMap.
The revised project will run from 2026-2031, using operating and subsidy budgets totalling THB4.5 billion.
Its user target will increase from 2,211,234 to 2,500,000, as proposed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation.
The project aims to build an individual learning and skills system and strengthen Thailand's human capital by helping learners continually develop their skills.
It will expand education and career opportunities aligned with current and future labour-market needs through a system supporting project operations and a learning and services marketplace linked to public- and private-sector learning platforms.
It will also design and promote incentives aligned with market mechanisms to upskill workers in the formal sector and develop new skills for the future, while supporting skills-development pathways suited to national priorities and the needs of different user groups.
Target group expanded to the general public
The target groups include university students, recent graduates and the general public.
- Phase 1, covering fiscal 2026-2028, will establish the main Core Engine infrastructure and the learning and services marketplace.
- Phase 2, covering fiscal 2029-2031, will expand the marketplace and incentives system nationwide.
The system will comprise four main components:
Core Engine
This will sit at the centre of the system and drive individual learning and skills development to strengthen Thailand's human capital.
Its functions will range from analysing labour-market demand and skills gaps to recommending careers and courses along learning pathways and storing education and training records, including transcripts and certificates.
Learning and services marketplace
This will bring together courses and learning modules from providers including public agencies, private companies, educational institutions and international platforms such as Coursera.
It will also include professional certification and the E-Workforce Ecosystem Platform (EWE Platform).
A committee will certify course standards before admission to the system, while a mechanism will assess the issuance of digital certificates and provide decentralised verification (Distributed Verification).
Benefits and incentives
These will be divided into two parts.
Content and course providers will receive tax benefits or education tokens based on actual usage outcomes.
Trainees and private-sector organisations will receive tax benefits, co-investment or subsidies.
Members of the public whose incomes meet the taxable threshold will be eligible for tax deductions, while low-income people will receive education coupons or tokens.
Private-sector participation
Private companies will submit information on skills demand, help design courses and advertise vacancies so jobs can be matched with learners who have the required skills.
The project will also promote new education technology (EdTech) start-ups that build on skills data.
