The Minister of Education and Sports, Hon. Mama Janet Museveni, has released the 2023 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results at State House Nakasero.
A total of 749,254 candidates from 15,859 centres (schools) registered for PLE in 2023 compared to 832,654 in 2022.
“Of this number, 501,602 (66.9%) from 11,365 centres were Universal Primary Education (UPE) beneficiaries, and 247,652 (33.1) of the candidates were non-UPE,” said Dan Odongo, the Executive Director of Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).
He said a higher proportion of the 2023 candidates passed in Division 3 and above level.
Overall, the performance of candidates is comparable to that of 2022, according to Odongo.
“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 added: “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. There are districts such as Kibuku (31.5o), Madi Okollo (31.5%), Dokolo (28.9%), Kween (28.4%), Namisindwa (28.9%) where the percentages are well 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.”
Performance of Prison Inmates
UNEB maintains an examination centre at Uganda Government Upper Prison School, Luzira.
According to Odongo, 69 candidates were registered (as compared to the 68 registered in 2022).
Of the 69 candidates who registered, 60 candidates sat, 2 passed in Division 1, 32 obtained Division 2, 15 obtained Division 3.5 obtained Division 4, and 6 were ungraded: while 9 did not sit for the examination.
Examination malpractice
“In accordance with Section 5(2) (b) of the UNEB Act, 2021 the Board will withhold the results of the affected candidates pending completion of investigations.
“Where there will be a prima facie case, the Board’s tribunal (Examinations Security Committee) will accord all the affected candidates a fair hearing before making final decisions,” said Odongo.
After the conclusion of the hearings by the Board’s tribunal, the list of districts and schools with cancelled results will be published.
Collection of Results
According to Odongo, the results will be uploaded on the examination centre Portals. Each school can therefore download their results as soon as they are officially released.
However, the District, Municipal and City Inspectors of Schools may collect hard copies of the results from UNEB offices at Ntinda from Monday, 29th January 2024.
“No copies of results are available as of now. Parents, candidates and other interested parties may use the Short Messaging Service (SMS) on mobile networks, which will post results of candidates on their mobile sets instantly.”