PISA scores show Filipino boys are being left behind

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has the highest disparity between the student performance of male and female students in Southeast Asia, recent Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results show, with girls outscoring their male peers higher than the global average.

According to the Philippines’ PISA scores, female students continue to outperform their male peers in mathematics, reading and science — and reading scores indicate that boys could be trailing behind girls by nearly two years’ worth of schooling.

The PISA results released on Tuesday capture the student performance of 15-year-olds in 81 countries, measuring not just learners’ overall proficiency in the three categories but also gender differences.

“Gender disparities in performance at age 15 may have long-term consequences for girls’and boys’ personal and professional future,” noted the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which administers the PISA every three years.

Filipino female students scored higher than their male peers not just in reading — a gender gap that all but two countries in PISA share — but also in mathematics and science, where boys scored higher globally.

Even as boys outperformed girls in mathematics in about half of PISA-participating countries, the Philippines once again saw the reverse.

Male Filipino students only attained an average score of 348 points in mathematics -- 14 points less than the score of female students, which the PISA noted as statistically significant. 

According to the OECD, a 20-point difference is equivalent to a year's worth of schooling. 

Male Filipino students only attained an average score of 348 points in mathematics in PISA 2022 -- 14 points less than the score of female students.

According to the OECD, a 20-point difference is equivalent to a year's worth of schooling. 

This mathematics gap between boys and girls is different from the OECD average, where boys scored nine points higher than girls overall.

Consistent in past PISA reports, female students in the Philippines outscored their male counterparts in reading, which is a category globally dominated by female students.

PISA scores indicate that boys