Hello

Your subscription is almost coming to an end. Don’t miss out on the great content on Nation.Africa

Ready to continue your informative journey with us?

Hello

Your premium access has ended, but the best of Nation.Africa is still within reach. Renew now to unlock exclusive stories and in-depth features.

Reclaim your full access. Click below to renew.

Caption for the landscape image:

Few distinctions, higher pass rates in 2024 PLE

Scroll down to read the article

Pupils of Janan Nursery and Primary Schools Bombo celebrate after receiving the Primary Leaving Examination results at the school premises yesterday. A total of 63 pupils at the school passed in first grade. PHOTO |  ABUBAKER LUBOWA

Candidates who sat the 2024 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) scored fewer distinctions but achieved better overall performance than their 2023 counterparts. Mr Daniel Odongo, the Uganda National Examination Board (Uneb) executive director, released the results at the Nakasero State Lodge in Kampala, yesterday. Uneb reported a drop in distinctions across all subjects, attributing it to difficulties by the pupils in answering questions that required higher-level thinking skills.

A total of 786,981 candidates, comprising 413,122 female and 373,859 male sat the exams, compared to 378,709 candidates who registered for it. Of the 786,981 who sat for the examinations, 722,730 passed and will receive pass slips qualifying them to join secondary or tertiary institutions.

A total of 648,662 candidates passed similar examinations last year.

“Overall, the performance of [the 2024] candidates is better than that of 2023. A higher proportion of the candidates  (91.8 percent passed compared to 2023 (88.0 percent). There is a drop in the number of candidates obtaining Division One,” Mr Odongo said.

In terms of distinctions, 84,301 candidates scored Division One compared to 86,582 in 2023, showing a decrease of 2,281 candidates. Only 448 candidates scored the maximum aggregate of 4 compared to 713 candidates who recorded 4 in the 2023 PLE. Uneb ranking places 4 as the highest aggregate, with 36 as the lowest.

The pupils sit for four papers, namely Mathematics, English, Science, and Social studies, with a pupil posting maximum score awarded Distinction 1, meaning maximum scores in all the four papers earn aggregate 4, and the worst score awarded 9, earning aggregate 36 for the four papers. Meanwhile, 397,589 candidates passed in Division Two, 165,284 in Division Three, and 75,556 in Division Four. However, 64,251 candidates were ungraded after failing to reach the minimum level of performance required for Division 4.

These are fewer than the 88,268 candidates who were ungraded in 2023, representing a reduction in failure rates by 24,018 candidates. The ungraded pupils are not eligible for admission to Senior One and tertiary institutions and will be required to repeat Primary Seven or drop out altogether. Mr.Odongo explained that despite the decline in distinctions, the overall pass rate improved.“A higher proportion of the 2024 candidates passed in Division Two and above,” Mr Odongo said.

Education and Sports minister Janet Museveni yesterday said the selection of Senior One candidates would take place next week on Thursday and Friday The successful candidates will be required to report for the first term on February 17 across the country.

“The encouragement I have for all those that passed PLE is that there are various opportunities for post-primary education in secondary schools and TVET [Technical. Vocational, Education Training]. Those learners whose PLE results have not met their expectations, I encourage you to persevere and give PLE another try,” Ms Museveni said.

Ms Joyce Kaducu, the minister of State for Primary Education,  said the government  has the capacity to absorb all the 722,730 candidates who had passed the PLE examinations.

Gender performance

Boys outperformed girls overall in the 2024 PLE after recording higher numbers in Division One and lower failure rates.

The results show that 45,203 boys passed in Division One compared to 39,098 girls. But the girls outnumbered the boys in Divisions Two, Three, and Four, likely due to many more girls who sat the exams. The boys also had fewer ungraded candidates (23,110) compared to 36,141 girls.

Despite the male pupils excelling in Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science, their female counterparts performed them in the English language as was the trend in previous exams.

Increased candidature

The number of candidates who turned up for the 2024 PLE increased from 749,347 in 2023 to 797.444 in 2024.

Of these, 524,025 (65.7%) were Universal Primary Education (UPE) beneficiaries, while 273,419 (34.3%) were from non-UPE schools. “Candidature increased by 48,190 (6.4%) over the previous year,” Mr Odongo said.

More girls (418,750) than boys (378,709) registered for the exams, reflecting a continued trend. “This has been consistent in recent years, with 52.5% of candidates being girls in 2024, compared to 52.3% in 2023,” Odongo added.

Reduced absenteeism

The rates of absent candidates in 2024 dropped significantly, marking the lowest level over the last five years.

Data from Uneb show the highest rates of absenteeism was reported in 2022 after 20,844 candidates who registered for the exams did not turn up for their papers. The other three years including 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023 equally reported high number of absenteeism, totaling more than 12,300 in each of the years.

The trend has reduced to 10,463 candidates who registered for the 2024 PLE, but did not show up for reasons unknown to Uneb. Ms Museveni asked the heads of schools to pay attention to the problem of learners dropping out, especially those who register for PLE.

“We must look into the issue and understand why a learner who has registered to sit PLE does not show up to sit the exams,” Ms Museveni said. 

Best done and failed subjects

Candidates performed better in Social Studies and Religious Studies followed by Integrated Science and Mathematics. There was an overall drop in performance in English compared to 2023.

“It should be noted that Distinction scores have dropped in all the subjects. This reflects the difficulties that candidates had with questions needing higher ability levels (application questions),” Mr Odongo said.

Uneb rating of candidates

Unlike previously, Uneb this time round rated the candidates based on their proficiency levels, with higher ability candidates noted as those who remembered all the facts and showed an understanding of those facts.

This category were also able to apply the facts or concepts in problem-solving. The medium-ability candidates were classified as those who remembered facts and showed and understanding of the facts and could apply some of the facts and concepts in problem-solving situations.

This category, however, showed difficulty in applying those facts in new situations. The lower ability level candidates on the other hand, remembered facts, but showed some limited level of understanding of the facts.

Uneb also reported that less than 20 per cent of the candidates exhibited higher ability in any of the subjects, but said 17 percent of the candidates exhibited higher ability in Mathematics and English, compared to 14 per cent in Integrated Science and Social Studies and Religious Studies.