Photo/Illutration Prefectural high school students use a computer in class. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

First-year high school students climbed to third place in reading comprehension in the latest global aptitude survey, a significant jump from 15th place in the previous survey.

Japan also moved up to second from fifth in science and to fifth from sixth in mathematics.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which conducts the tests, believes Japan’s rise in the rankings “may have been influenced by Japan’s relatively short period of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to other countries.”

Only 15.5 percent of Japanese students reported school closures of three months or more while the average for other OECD nations was 50.3 percent.

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests have been carried out every three years since 2000.

Results for the 2021 survey, which was postponed to 2022 due to the pandemic, were released on Dec. 5 this year.

The PISA measures the ability of 15-year-olds to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to solve real-life problems.

Singapore ranked first in all three categories.

In the previous 2018 survey, China--represented by students in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu province and Zhejiang province--dominated the top spots. But the country did not participate in the latest survey due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Russia, which had its participation in OECD projects suspended due to its invasion of Ukraine, also did not take part.

The average scores of OECD member countries decreased in all three categories from the previous survey while Japan’s average scores improved.

In reading, Japan’s score was 516, up 12 points from the previous survey, and in science, it reached 547, up 18 points. Both increases were statistically significant and there was also a decrease in the rate of lower-scoring students.

In mathematics, the score rose nine points to 536, but the increase was not statistically significant compared to the previous survey.

The PISA survey has adopted a computer-based question-and-answer format since the 2015 survey.

The previous two tests saw Japan drop in its reading ranking, with one of the factors for the drop being seen as Japanese students’ unfamiliarity with digital devices.

Subsequently, the government launched the GIGA School program, which provided each student with one personal or tablet computer.

The education ministry believes this initiative has contributed to the improvement in rankings as students have become more accustomed to using such devices.

Each PISA survey focuses on one of the three categories. This time, it was mathematics.

The results showed Japanese students tend to have less confidence in using mathematics to solve real-life problems because they receive less instruction in integrating mathematics with everyday life in their classes, compared to the OECD average.

This time, roughly 690,000 students from 81 countries and regions participated in the survey.

In Japan, around 6,000 first-year high school students took the tests between June and August of 2022. Students who were absent on the day, including those who were not attending school, and correspondence students were not included in the survey.

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