At least 714,702 candidates passed the Primary Leaving Examination and are eligible to join secondary school next month. This means the number of candidates who have passed the 2022 PLE is higher than 659,910 compared to the previous year.
However, Uganda National Examination Board -UNEB, has noted that 17,253 candidates from Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools were absent. Similarly, 3,687 candidates from private schools were also absent.
UNEB has also noted that candidature increased by 82,893 translating to 11 percent compared to 2020. The tremendous increase in the number of candidates has been attributed to two years of Covid19 lockdown that forced many parents to push children who were supposed to be in Primary Six to sit for PLE.
In 2022, analysis by gender shows that 400,100 (48.1%) boys were registered
compared to 432,554 (51.9%) girls. It simply means girls have consistently been more than boys at the PLE level.
Dan Nikorach Odongo the UNEB executive director said the Board registered 2,436 learners with Special Needs of various categories, including the blind, the deaf, the physically handicapped, and the dyslexics, compared to 1,599 in 2020. This is an increase of 52.3%, the largest rate of increase ever.
“Of these, 1,153 (47.3%) are females and 1,283 (52.7%) are males. A total of 1,609 of the candidates needed specialized assistance such as the provision of braille, sign language interpreters, transcribers, and physical support (amanuensis). The provision of this specialized support presents a big constraint on the Board’s budget,” Odongo said.
UNEB has explained that females performed better than males in English, but the reverse is true for the other three subjects; Social Studies & Religious Education, Integrated Science, and Mathematics. This is the trend that has been observed over the years.
Odongo added that candidates’ performance has generally improved as can be seen in the percentages scoring distinction and credit grades. Examiners again reported good handwriting and organized work presented by candidates. UNEB indicated that the number of candidates scoring zero in various subjects has generally decreased compared to previous years.
“In Mathematics, even those who scored zero showed mathematical language compared to work presented in the past years. Examiners attributed the better-quality performance to the fact that a lot of the questions were based on real-life situations to which candidates could easily relate,” Odongo said.