At least 88,269 pupils failed the 2023 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) as per the just released results.
Released by Janet Museveni, the Minister of Education and Sports, the PLE results indicate that a total of 749,254 candidates from 15,859 centers (schools) registered for PLE in 2023, compared to 832,654 in 2022.
Of this number, 501,602 from 11,365 centers were Universal Primary Education (UPE) beneficiaries, and 247,652 of the candidates were non-UPE.
According to Daniel Odong, the Executive Secretary of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), many of the pupils who had been expected to repeat the Primary Six were registered for the examination, leading to an increase of 82,892 candidates over that of 2020. That hold-up was no longer evident in 2023, leading to a drop in the numbers to the level expected.
In 2023, analysis by gender shows that 357,755 (47.75%) boys were registered compared to 391,499 (52.25%) girls. This has been the trend in the last seven years, and the gap has been slowly widening.
He said the board registered 2,652 learners with special needs in various categories, including the blind, the deaf, the physically handicapped, and the dyslexic, compared to 2,436 in 2022.
Of the registered SNE candidates, 1,261 are females and 1,391 are males. 995 of the candidates needed specialized assistance, such as the provision of Braille, sign language interpreters, transcribers, and physical support (amanuensis).
“The results show that 82582 students passed in division one; 336507 students passed in grade two; 156290 in division three; 69283 in grade four; 88269 were ungraded; and 12323 did not sit for the exams,” he said.
“It should be noted that the number of candidates in Division U is quite high, at 88,269 (10.4%), and should raise concern so that they do not just add to the statistics of school drop-outs,” he said.
Odong said there are districts such as Kibuku (31.5%), Madi Okollo (31.5%), Dokolo (28.9%), Kween (28.4%), and Namisindwa (28.9%) where the percentages are well above the national average. Many other districts have over 20% of the candidates in Division U. It is necessary to find out the causes and address them.
