Finnish education system

THE Finnish education system is one of the best in the world, according the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which coordinates Pisa, the triennial world-wide test of 15-year-old academic performance.Pisa stands for Programme for International Student Assessment. Two hundred and sixty-five students from 32 countries were tested in 2000 and two hundred and seventy-five from 41 countries in 2003. In 2006 58 countries took part and the report will be released in December this year. Students are tested in mathematics, reading literacy, science and problem solving. In 2003 Finland came top in reading literacy and science and second in mathematics and problem solving. (Hong Kong had the next best performance).Finland is the fifth largest country in Europe but has a population of only 5.2 million