The European Commission is worried by the poor knowledge of young people of the European Union (EU) in maths and in science, because one fifth of the Europeans have an insufficient knowledge of the sphere. Androulla Vassiliou, the Cypriot education and culture commissioner, set Finland, Estonia and Netherlands as examples for other member countries where the number of young people with an insufficient knowledge of math and science subjects is considerably lower.
Concerned by the poor knowledge of the young people, the education ministers set in 2009 the official pan-European aim at bringing the percentage of 15-year olds with an insufficient level of knowledge of math, science and reading to under 15 percent everywhere.
In Estonia and in the Netherlands about 13 percent and in Finland only 8 percent are poor in maths, while the average EU indicator of 22 percent remains far from the aim set two years ago. In science only 6 percent of the 15-year-olds in Finland, 8 percent in Estonia and nearly 13 percent in the Netherlands have insufficient knowledge of math and science while the average EU indicator is 18 percent.
Vassilou, the commissioner for education, culture multilingualism and youth, set Finland, Estonia and the Netherlands as examples to other member countries. Among the 18 countries with comparable figures Bulgaria and Romania had the biggest number of 15-year-olds with insufficient knowledge in math and science.
VES/BNS
