THE Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday said 208 schools from across the country were chosen by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to take the 2025 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).

It added that preparations for the exam were ongoing since October 2024, which included an internal audit system to check school readiness, teacher capacity, academic preparedness and community support.

The first batch of Filipino students took the assessment in March, while the conduct of the computer-based component of the test concluded on Friday.

"Our goal here is a more robust and equitable testing environment. We must learn from the gains of this exercise and scale it for future initiatives," Education Secretary Sonny Angara said during a DepEd Executive Committee meeting.

DepEd said that the results of the 2025 PISA, which would be released in September 2026, would serve as a benchmark for future learning programs.

The Philippines has previously faltered in the exam, posting a second to the lowest mean score of 14, tying with Uzbekistan but higher than Albania, which scored the lowest among all countries who participated in the assessment.