The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has released the 2024 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results, with girls performing better than boys and candidates performed better in mathematics than English .
Over all performance of candidates improved compared to 2023 and there was a reduction in absenteeism rates among candidates.
At State House Nakasero, function presided over by the Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni UNEB Executive Director Dan Nokrach Odongo presented the results under the theme “Embracing Security and Holistic Assessment of Learners in a Dynamic Environment.” The results show an overall pass rate rise to 91.8% in 2024 compared to 88.0% in 2023. there was a decline in the proportion of candidates attaining Division One, reflecting challenges with questions requiring higher-order thinking skills.
According to Odongo, mathematicsshowed improvement, with 7.4% of candidates achieving distinctions compared to 5.3% in 2023 and English saw a decline, with only 4.9% achieving distinctions compared to 7.8% in 2023.
In social studies , Religious Education and Integrated Science candidates registered low distinction rates, from 9.4% to 7.9% and from 9.3% to 6.4%, respectively.
Girls Beat Boys
Girls continued to outperform boys in English, with 5.1% of females earning distinctions compared to 4.6% of males but the boys pulled up in Mathematics and Science.
UNEB’s noted challenges in core learning areas where candidates struggled with word problems in Mathematics, drawing inferences in English, applying scientific concepts to real-life scenarios, and addressing social studies topics such as climate change and income-generating activities. Odongo attributed these difficulties to teaching methods detached from real-life applications.
Special needs candidates performed above the national average, with the majority scoring in Division Two. The same applied to prison candidates, with none ungraded at Luzira or Mbarara prisons.
But cases of cheating also manifested and UNEB nabbed candidates who engaged in fraudulent practices where some schools registered normal pupils as special needs candidates to gain examination advantages.
The broader outlook:
UNEB highlighted the importance of maintaining security throughout the examination process while assessing learners comprehensively across cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. The theme reflects UNEB’s commitment to adapting to rapid technological advancements and ensuring integrity in Uganda’s education system.
A total of 797,444 candidates from 14,883 centers registered for the 2024 PLE, marking a 6.4% increase from 2023’s 749,347 candidates. Of these, 524,025 (65.7%) were beneficiaries of the government’s Universal Primary Education (UPE) program, while 34.3% attended private schools. Notably, more girls (418,750 or 52.5%) than boys (378,709 or 47.5%) completed the primary education cycle, continuing a trend observed in recent years.
UNEB reported a significant rise in learners with special needs, with 3,328 such candidates registered in 2024 compared to 2,652 in 2023—a 25.5% increase. This growth is attributed to increased awareness efforts by the board and the Ministry of Education. Among special needs learners, 47.9% were female. UNEB also registered 71 prison inmates for the exams, with encouraging performances reported at Luzira Upper Prison and Mbarara Main Prison.
UNEB recorded a decline in absenteeism rates, with 10,463 candidates (1.3%) missing the exams, compared to 12,323 (1.6%) in 2023. Executive Director Odongo attributed this improvement to targeted interventions aimed at retaining pupils in school through to the end of the primary education cycle.
The overall pass rate rose to 91.8% in 2024, up from 88.0% in 2023. However, there was a decline in the proportion of candidates attaining Division One, reflecting challenges with questions requiring higher-order thinking skills.
