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Janet raises concern over school dropouts

Left to right: Minister of State for Primary Education Joyce Moriku Kaducu, Minister for Education and Sports Janet Museveni and Rwampara District Woman Representative and Education Committee Deputy Chairperson Molly Asiimwe Musiime during the release the 2024 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results at State House, Nakase- ro yesterday. PHOTO | DAVID LUBOWA

What you need to know:

  • The Ministry of Education says the dropout rates are especially among registered PLE candidates, urging stakeholders to address the issue while encouraging successful candidates to pursue further education and vocational training.

Mary, a registered candidate for last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) in a local school in Mbale District, dropped out of school after being impregnated. Balancing motherhood and school proved overwhelming, leaving her unable to prepare for the examinations.

“I attended fewer classes and didn’t want to disappoint my parents with poor grades,” she explained. Mary’s case is one among many. Ac[1]cording to the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb), 10,463 candidates did not show up for the 2024 PLE, representing 1.3 percent of the 797,444 pupils registered. Of these, 786,981 candidates sat the exams. Despite the absentees, Uneb noted a decline in dropout rates compared to the previous four years.

The Minister of Education and Sports, Ms Janet Kataha Museveni, at the release of the exams yesterday expressed concern over the dropout rate, particularly among learners already registered for the exams. Ms Kataha tasked headteachers and school management committees to pay attention to the problem. “We must look into this issue and understand why a learner who has registered to sit PLE, does not show up to sit the exams.

Any school dropout is an undesirable state, and there are those issues that the government needs to address to eliminate school dropouts,” she said. Ms Kataha also encouraged candidates who passed PLE to pursue post-primary education opportunities, including secondary schools and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) . She, however, tasked parents to let their children finish Ordinary Level before joining TVET.

“For parents who may want to consider a career in TVET for their children, I want to urge you to encourage and motivate them to aspire to complete at least O-Level.

“This is because Lower Secondary Education is vital in getting learners grounded in basic knowledge of the natural sciences such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, and other earth sciences that are vital as the foundational knowledge in TVET. So please, do not limit your child’s aspirations to merely completing Primary Seven,” Ms Kataha asserted.

The minister also announced that the selection exercise for Senior One would take place on January 30 and 31.

“We expect the First Term for the Senior One cohort of 2025 to commence on Monday February 17, 2025,” she said. The State Minister for Primary Education, Dr Joyce Kaducu, at the event revealed that the literacy rate in the country has greatly improved from 43 percent to 74 percent.

“I wish to assure the parents that the government has enough capacity to accommodate all the 786,981 candidates who passed the PLE 2024 Examination. I, therefore, appeal to our parents and all stakeholders to ensure that all our learners transit to secondary education and technical vocational education so as to complete their basic education, which is a critical necessity for their survival and also beneficial for the country’s development and growth agenda. For those who did not make it, there is room to repeat and get better grades,” Dr Kaducu said.

RECORDS

The 2024 PLE recorded 797,444 candidates from 14,883 centres, compared to 749,347 in 2023. Among them, 524,025 (65.7 percent) were beneficiaries of Universal Primary Education (UPE), while 273,419 (34.3 percent) attended Non-UPE schools