Boys outshine girls in 2014 PLE results

Boys have continued to outshine girls in PLE examinations performance, according to the 2014 results released today by the UNEB Executive Secretary, Mr Mathew Bukenya at the Office of the Prime minister.
“Male candidates in division one are more than females. Generally, boys performed better than girls,” said Mr Bukenya, adding that this year’s performance was slightly better than that of 2013.
Division one performance went up by 10.4% as compared to 9.4% in 2013.
“In Kampala, out of the 27,926 candidates, 4,472 male passed in Division one as compared to 3,752 female in the same grade. Out of a total of 38,289 candidates who sat PLE last year in Wakiso district, 4,445 males got first grade as compared to their female counterparts who were 3,823 and in Mukono, out of 9850 who sat, 555 male passed in division one as compared to their female counterparts who were 587,” he observed.
According to Mr Bukenya out of a total of 604,971 candidates who registered for last year’s PLE exams, 78% were UPE beneficiaries
Bukenya further noted that Social Studies and Religious education were the best performed subjects, followed by Mathematics, Integrated Science and English in the respective order.
“The candidates’ expression and handwriting showed improvement compared to previous years,” he said.
However, Mr Bukenya further noted that 58,000 candidates failed their PLE exams while results for 1,344 candidates were withheld pending investigation. If cleared, they will be released. He also observed that the number of candidates who scored zero has reduced due to increased deployment of UNEB scouts to curb malpractice.
Fort Portal, Entebbe, Mbarara, Jinja, Masindi, Ntungano and Lira emerged as best performing Municipalities in Uganda while Dokolo, Luka, Bugiri, Iganga, Tororo, Mayuge, Kapchorwa, Manafwa emerged among the poor performing districts.
According to the Educations and Sport minister Ms Jesica Alupo, since the inception of Universal Primary Education (UPE), PLE candidature has increased over time.
“The gender difference in the PLE results between boys and girls in the PLE results is only 1,200 more boys than girls, which is much less than it used to be previously. This is an indication that we have achieved gender equality but there is still much efforts needed,” she said.
Schools are expected to start picking the PLE results from the UNEB offices today in Ntinda, Kampala. However, parents and candidates can also access their results using their mobile telephone by sending index number to 6600 for instant results. (Type PLE, INDEX NUMBER and send to 6600)
Selection of candidates for Senior one will be held on the 29th and 30th of January at Kampala International University, the date of reporting will be announced at the beginning of first term.