
Secondary school head teachers select their candidates for Senior One in Kampala last year. This year’s selection of Senior One entrants is expected to be conducted between January 30 and January 31 at a yet-to-be-selected venue in Kampala. PHOTO | FILE
Due to a reported drop in the number of candidates obtaining Grade One in last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), top-performing schools are likely to maintain this year’s cut-off points for Senior One entrants.
Traditional top performers such as Kings College Buddo, St Mary’s College Kisubi, Kibuli SS, Gayaza High School, Mt St Mary’s Namagunga, Kawempe Muslim SS, Ntare School and Namilyango College, are expected to set their cut-off points between Aggregate 4 for boys and 6 for girls.
But other schools that performed well, but don’t fall in the top 50 category, are expected to relax their entry points, absorbing more candidates, even those with Second Grade.
According to the 2024 PLE results released on Thursday, of the 786,981 candidates who sat for the exams, only 84,301 (10.7 percent) candidates passed with First Grade compared to 86,582 (11.8 percent) in 2023.
Of these (786,981), 722,730 (91.8 percent) passed and can proceed to Senior One, compared to 648,662 (88 percent) in the previous year.
Another 397,589 candidates passed in Division Two compared to 336,507, who sat in the 2023 cohort.
A total of 165,284 candidates passed in Division Three, while 75,556 passed in Division Four.
A total of 64,251 (8.2 percent) candidates completely failed the exams compared to 88,269 (9.4 percent) of the previous year.
This means those who failed the exams do not qualify for government sponsorship under the free secondary education scheme, which is going into the 18th year of its implementation.
A Primary Seven candidate is deemed to have passed the exams if he/she garners between Aggregate 4 and 28. Usually, government schools implementing free education programmes take all candidates with Aggregate between 4 and 28.
“We are going to see a scenario where ‘first world’ schools are forced to absorb learners with grades outside their usual cutoff points because the best are few. But parents should also learn that passing in other grades like Two, Three and Four doesn’t mean the candidate is academically weak,” Mr Erisam Kanyerezi, a veteran educationist and former career teacher at King’s College, Budo, said yesterday.
It should be noted that the candidature increased by 50,050 over the previous year.
Ministry of Education Spokesperson Denis Mugimba downplayed the reduced number of first grades, saying the margin is small compared to the previous year.
“Those variations usually occur, but when you compare the number of candidates who scored First Grade with those of 2023, the percentage difference is not that big,” he said.
He said the usual automatic computerised system will show schools which candidates they are taking during the selection exercise.
“You are well aware that the cut-off points usually go up based on performance and since there was a slight decline in the number of those with First Grade, definitely, the cut-off points will be maintained, let’s wait for the selection,” he added.
The selection of Senior One entrants is expected to be conducted between January 30 and January 31 at a yet-to-be-selected venue in Kampala, and students will start their academic year on February 17.
Due to a slight improvement in performance in the 2023 results, many schools increased the 2024 entry points, while some maintained their cut-off mark.
Many top schools from the central region set Aggregate 5 for boys and 7 for girls, the western region set Aggregate 10 for girls and 8 for boys, while the remaining regions admitted those with Aggregate 13 for both.
King’s College, Budo, for example, took learners with Aggregate 5, down from Aggregate 4 which was considered for boys in 2023.
In 2023, a total of 736,931 PLE candidates passed the national examinations and were eligible to join Senior One. However, 515,610 students were selected to join Senior One. While some schools hiked their cut-off grades, others chose to increase the number of new entrants.
How cut-off marks are determined
Cut-off points for any given school are determined by the Ministry of Education based on the number of candidates who sat for the exams. The ministry sets the cut-off points using an automatic computerised system that allocates students according to general performance and first choice preference of pupils.
However, a school can also wriggle out of the maximum depending on the available facilities and the number of students who choose it as their first choice.
The rest, even if they fall in the bracket of admissibility, are ‘sold’ to other schools during the selection exercise.