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Lebanon has been participating in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) since 2003 – an international assessment of the mathematics and science knowledge of fourth grade and eighth grade students around the world. Lebanon however has been participating on the 8th grade level only (not sure why) with TIMSS choosing 8 random schools in the country (private and public) for the assessments that take place every four years. The 2011 results have been released but it appears that Lebanese students are falling behind.

The tests are scored on a scale from 0 to 1000, with 500 representing the average.

Here are the 2011 mathematics results with their scores.

Mathematics

  1. South Korea – 613
  2. Singapore – 611
  3. Taiwan – 609
  4. Hong Kong – 586
  5. Japan – 570
  6. Russia – 539
  7. Israel – 516
  8. Finland – 514
  9. United States – 509
  10. Great Britain – 507
  11. Hungary / Australia / Slovenia – 505
  12. Lithuania – 502
  13. Italy – 498
  14. New Zealand – 488
  15. Kazakhstan – 487
  16. Sweden – 484
  17. Ukraine – 479
  18. Norway – 475
  19. Armenia – 467
  20. Romania – 458
  21. United Arab Emirates – 456
  22. Turkey – 452
  23. Lebanon – 449
  24. Malaysia – 440
  25. Georgia – 431
  26. Thailand – 427
  27. Macedonia – 426
  28. Tunisia – 425
  29. Chile – 416
  30. Iran – 415
  31. Qatar – 410
  32. Bahrain – 409
  33. Jordan – 406
  34. Palestine – 404
  35. Saudi Arabia – 394
  36. Indonesia – 386
  37. Syria – 380
  38. Morocco – 371
  39. Oman – 366
  40. Ghana – 331

Lebanon ranks second among the Arab countries with the UAE in the lead and Tunisia in third place. However, the Arab countries are below the 500-mark average set by TIMSS. Lebanon has improved from 2003 when it scored 433 but remains unchanged from its 2007 results. When looking at the science results, things look far worse.

Science

  1. Singapore – 590
  2. Taiwan – 564
  3. South Korea – 560
  4. Japan – 558
  5. Finland – 552
  6. Slovenia – 543
  7. Russia – 542
  8. Hong Kong – 535
  9. Great Britain – 533
  10. United States – 525
  11. Hungary – 522
  12. Australia – 519
  13. Israel – 516
  14. Lithuania – 514
  15. New Zealand – 512
  16. Sweden – 509
  17. Italy / Ukraine – 501
  18. Norway – 494
  19. Kazakhstan – 490
  20. Turkey – 483
  21. Iran – 474
  22. Romania – 465
  23. United Arab Emirates – 465
  24. Chile – 461
  25. Bahrain – 452
  26. Thailand – 451
  27. Jordan – 449
  28. Tunisia – 439
  29. Armenia – 437
  30. Saudi Arabia – 436
  31. Malaysia / Syria – 426
  32. Palestine / Georgia / Oman – 420
  33. Qatar – 419
  34. Macedonia – 407
  35. Lebanon / Indonesia – 406
  36. Morocco – 376
  37. Ghana – 306

In science, Lebanon ranks at the bottom of the Arab countries (10 out of 11); its a drop from the 2007 results when Lebanon scored 414 but still higher than the 2003 score of 393. However in 2007, Lebanese students was ahead of Egypt, Algeria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It seems that students in these countries have improved their science knowledge, leaving their Lebanese counterparts behind.

Lebanese students falling behind in mathematics and science

Lebanese students falling behind in mathematics and science
— Photo of LycĂ©e Nahr Ibrahim from Wikipedia —