At least 88,269 candidates failed the recently released Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results. The results were announced by Janet Museveni, the Minister of Education and Sports.
According to Dan Odongo, the Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), a total of 749,254 candidates from 15,859 centres registered for the PLE in 2023, compared to 832,654 in 2022. Of this number, 501,602 candidates from 11,365 centres were beneficiaries of Universal Primary Education (UPE), while 247,652 were non-UPE candidates.
In 2023, gender analysis showed that 357,755 boys were registered, compared to 391,499 girls, indicating that more girls than boys completed the Primary Education cycle.
“The results show that 86,582 candidates passed in the first grade, 336,507 in the second grade, 156,290 in the third grade, 69,283 in the fourth grade, and 88,269 failed, while 12,323 candidates did not show up,” Odongo said.
Boys outperformed girls in the first grade, with 47,452 boys passing compared to 39,130 girls. In the second grade, 164,906 boys passed, while 171,601 girls succeeded. In the third grade, 69,870 boys passed compared to 86,420 girls. The fourth grade saw 31,415 boys pass, while 37,868 girls passed. In the ungraded category, 38,346 boys were ungraded, compared to 49,926 girls.
The Board also registered 2,652 learners with special needs, including the blind, deaf, physically handicapped, and dyslexic candidates, compared to 2,436 in 2022. This increase can be attributed to UNEB’s deliberate efforts to sensitize schools and the measures put in place to assist special needs candidates during the examination.
