Over 600,000 pass PLE Exams

A total of 648,662 candidates passed in four different grades in the 2023 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) that was held between November 8 and November 9 last year.
Of these, 86,582 (11.8℅) of candidates passed  in Division (1), 336,507 candidates in Division (2), 156,290 in Division (3), while 69283 passed in Division (4).

A total of 88,269 failed while 12,323 did not sit for the exams.
 During the official release of the results at State Lodge Nakasero, the executive director of the Uganda National Examination Board (Uneb) said the higher proportion of the 2023 candidates passed in Division 3 and above level. 

“Overall, the performance of candidates is comparable to that of 2022. Division U (Ungraded) is awarded to candidates who have failed to reach the minimum level of performance that can be awarded at least a Division 4. They are not eligible for admission to the Senior 1 class,” he said.

In terms of gender, boys outperformed girls in the first division, where 47,452 of them got division one compared to 39,130 girls. At least 171,601 girls passed in division 2 compared to 164,906 boys.
Girls also outperformed boys in Division three and four and still registered the biggest number of failures.

“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,” Odongo said.

He identified districts which registered the biggest number of failures including; Kibuku (31.5%), Madi Okollo (31.5%), Dokolo (28.9%), Kween (28.4%), Namisindwa (28.9%) where the percentages are way 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,” he said.

Science and Social studies were the overall best performed subjects contributing 9.8 percent and 9.4 percent of the total number of Distinction 2 compared to 7.8 percent and 5.3 percent of English and Mathematics respectively.
“Overall at grade 8 and above, performance is slightly better in English, Integrated Science and Mathematics. Performance in Social Studies is comparable to 2022,” Odongo further noted.
“Females performed better than the males in English, but the reverse is true for the other three subjects; Social Studies & Religious Education, Integrated Science, and Mathematics. This is the usual trend for the past years,” he said.