The First Lady, Maama Janet Museveni releasing the final PLE results at State House Nakasero
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I Primary Leaving Examinations for the year 2024 are finally out, and the examinations body has reported improved overall performance by 91.8%, as compared to the year 2023.
The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), which released the results at State House Nakasero today, however reported a slight decline in the number of candidates that passed in Division One.
Prof Celestino Obua, the UNEB Chairperson, said that 84,301 candidates scored Division One compared to 86,582 in 2023. On the other hand, 397,589 candidates passed in Division Two, 165,284 in Division Three, and 75,556 passed in Division Four.
On a sad note, 64,251 candidates were ungraded and will need to repeat Primary Seven.
Prof Obua said the failure rates have decreased, although there is a slight drop in the number of candidates that obtained Division One.
He further pointed out that the number of candidates with special needs [especially the deaf], who sat for the exams performed significantly better than in previous years since they managed to make special arrangements for their examinations albeit at a high price tag. He said in 2023, 44% of deaf candidates were ungraded.
Daniel Odongo, the UNEB Executive Director speaking during the exam release ceremony at Nakasero yesterday
Daniel Odongo, the UNEB Executive Director, said there was a drop in distinctions across all subjects. “This was due to difficulties with questions requiring higher-level thinking skills,” he said at Nakasero yesterday.
Meanwhile, male candidates have for the third year running outshone their female counterparts in the just released PLE.
The PLE results revealed that 45,203 boys (12.09% ) passed in Division One, 192,546 (51.50% ) in Division Two, 71,951 (19.25%) in Division Three and 36,049 (9.64%) in Division Four.
On the flip side, 39,098 girls (9.46%) passed in Division One, 205,043 (49.63%) in Division Two, 93,333 (22.59% ) in Division Three and 39,507 (9.56%) in Division Four.
A cross section of UNEB officials with the First Lady Maama Janat Museveni (displaying results) during the release ceremony at Nakasero today
The results show that there was a higher percentage of boys in Division 1 and 2 than girls.
Odongo however revealed that in terms of numbers, there are more girls in Division 2 and at the lower divisions than boys.
“This was due to the fact that more female candidates registered and sat the examination than the boys. On the whole, of the 3328 candidates who sat for the exams, the majority of candidates (51.5%) obtained Division 2,” he said.
The number of candidates who sat for the 2024 PLE increased to 797,444 from 14,883 centers, compared to 749,347 in 2023. Of these, 524,025 (65.7%) were Universal Primary Education (UPE) beneficiaries, while 273,419 (34.3%) were from non UPE schools.
Odongo said the number of candidates increased by 48,190 (6.4%) over the previous year, although the rate of abscenteeism among candidates dropped to its lowest level in five years, when 797,444 sat for the exams while 10,463 did not turn up compared to 12,323 in 2023.
