A global education survey released today showed that France has dropped to an average position in international maths tests and needs to improve educational results for immigrants and the poor, reports RFI.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Tuesday released its Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) study focusing on maths, reading and science skills of students in 65 countries.
With a special emphasis on mathematics this year, the latest Pisa study tested some 510,000 15-year-olds last year.
Shanghaï students ranked first in maths, science and reading while the top five positions were all taken from students from elsewhere in Asia (Singapore, Hong-Kong, Taiwan and South Korea).
The performance of French students in maths has deteriorated, with a score down 16 points from 2003, France now ranks 25th in the index.
French students came 21st in reading skills, slightly above the average and 26th in science, a position among the average countries, unchanged since 2006
Eric Charbonnier of the OECD drew particular attention to the growing gap in performance between children from different socio economic backgrounds in France.
"In France, the correlation between socio economic background and performance is considerably more marked than in other OECD countries", the report reads.
Read more of this report from RFI.