Education experts have questioned the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE )’s improvement, claiming “possible anxiety” on the part of officials to have the pupils earn higher grades.
According to the Uganda Examination Board, all districts nationwide performed better overall in the recently revealed PLE results (Uneb).
The conditions surrounding the end of the term and the exam preparations, according to experts, prevented an improvement in the results from prior years.
Former Uneb chairperson Mr. Fagil Mande claimed yesterday that the provided data were unreliable.
“I am wondering, were these figures manufactured because if the teachers did not have time to prepare and teach the full syllabus to the pupils, there were automatic promotions and all those difficulties, how can you convince me that there was an improvement?” Mr Mande said in a telephone interview.
The Ministry of Education closed schools for more than two years after Covid-19 broke out in 2020. Due to the length of time missed, the students were forced to automatically start the upper classes when school resumed, and the PLE timetable was advanced.
The Ministry of Education nor Uneb provided any explanation of the “magic formula” used to get the positive outcomes during the release of the exam results last week.
There was an agreement to lower the grade to ensure that the performance wasn’t completely awful, according to a senior examiner who wished to remain anonymous since they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Further Analysis
Our figures show that while the normally top-performing districts, such Wakiso, Kampala, and Mukono, improved, the western districts also did well, with schools receiving higher scores than the previous year.
In comparison to last year, when Mbarara, Kampala, Wakiso, Kira Municipality, and Kasese led the way, the Uneb figures show that the top seven districts were Bushenyi, with 56 percent passing, Kisoro, 51 percent, Ntungamo, 49 percent, Kabale, 47 percent, Rukungiri, 44 percent, and Mbarara, with 42 percent.
According to Uneb, “A candidate is deemed to have passed if he/she obtains Divisional grades of one, two, three and four. Such candidates will qualify to register for any post primary examination conducted by Uneb..”