The Executive Director Uganda National Examinations Board Dan Nokrach Odongo has revealed that boys outperformed their female counterparts in the just released 2025 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).
While reading out the results of the last years PLE Examinations at State House Nakasero to invited guests ,media, First Lady and Education Minister Janet Kataha Museveni on Friday, Mr Odongo noted that there was an increase in the number of candidates who sat for the exams last year compared to 2024.
“A total of 817,883 candidates from 15,388 examination centres registered for the 2025 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), compared to 797,444 candidates in 2024. Of this total, 522,036 candidates (63.8%) from 11,525 centres were UPE beneficiaries, while 295,847 candidates (36.2%) from 3,863 centres were non-UPE candidates” he said.
Of these, Odongo noted that boys performed better than the females and recorded a lower failure rate with 48,220 Boys passing in Division 1, 186,638 in Division 2, 77.453 in Division 3, 37,658 in Division 4 while 34,500 boys were ungraded.
This is in comparison with their female counterparts who had 43,770 passing in Division 1, 201,655 in Division 2, 87,773 in Division 3, 47,066 in Division 4 while 42,580 female students were ungraded.
Mr Odongo noted that examiners and curriculum specialists commended the overall quality of the examination papers administered with the papers clearly reflecting the paradigm shift towards competency-based learning, with questions designed to assess learners’ ability to apply knowledge and skills.
“However, it was noted that some teachers, particularly in Social Studies and Religious Education have not fully adjusted their teaching approaches to align with this shift. As a result, many candidates experienced difficulty responding to questions that required the application of knowledge, especially in relation to their communities and the country at large” he said.
Odongo revealed that this was to partly blame for the decline in performance in the two subjects compared to 2024.
“Examiners also highlighted the negative impact of materials developed and circulated by so-called examination bureaus shortly before the examination. Such materials were misleading and adversely affected candidates’ preparedness and performance”.
Odongo further decried the continued malpractice during the examinations with scouts and invigilators being threatened and handed bribes by some schools.
“Examination malpractice has now taken a brazen form where scouts and invigilators are bribed or threatened with physical harm by the school directors and head teachers to allow teachers to assist candidates directly in the examination rooms” he said.
The UNEB board chairperson Prof Celestino Obua noted that the number of candidates has continued to rise in the examinations with absenteeism remaining at a steady 1.3 percent over the last two years.
UNEB has revealed that the results will be uploaded to the Centre Portal upon official release and urged District, Municipal, and City Inspectors of Schools to collect hard copies of the results from the UNEB offices at Ntinda starting on Monday.
