Nearly one third of the pupils in the districts of Kibuku, Madi Okollo, Dokolo, Kween and Namisindwa are not eligible to move to Senior Secondary schools after scoring Division U (Ungraded). Many other districts have over 20% of the candidates in Division U.
Uganda National Examinations Board Ed Dan Odongo revealed that Division U is awarded to candidates who have failed to reach the minimum level of performance that can be awarded, at least a Division 4 and they are not eligible for admission to the Senior 1 class.
“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. It is necessary to find out the causes and address them,” Odongo said, adding that ” 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.”
He said this before the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Janet Kataha Museveni officially released the 2023 Primary leaving Exams in Kampala on Thursday.
“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. 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 said.
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.
Results will were 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.
Parents, candidates and other interested parties were advised to use the Short Messaging Service (SMS) on mobile networks, which post results of candidates on their mobile sets instantly.