PLE2022: Here is why candidates’ performance generally improved

The Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) Mr Dan Odongo has revealed that candidates’ performance in the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) 2022 has greatly improved compared to the past years.

While releasing the results on Friday at State House, Nakasero, Mr Odongo said that the number of candidates scoring zero in various subjects has generally decreased compared to previous years.

He revealed that candidates’ performance has generally improved as seen in the percentages scoring distinction and credit grades.

“Examiners again reported good handwriting and organized work presented by candidates. 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,” he said

Mr. Odongo also revealed that Non-Universal Primary Education (UPE) candidates have, proportionally, performed better than the UPE candidates. He added that the reasons for this disparity in performance are due to the fact that teachers in urban schools tend to spend more time on task, and the learners spend more time in school.

“The teachers also tend to adopt teaching methods that emphasise preparation of candidates for test taking. There is a higher level of involvement by the urban parents in their children’s learning process, and urban areas generally have better access to facilities that supplement classroom teaching,” he said.

Also in 2022, more candidates obtained Division 1 and Division 2 than in 2020. In terms of numbers, 714,702 candidates passed the PLE compared to 659,910 the previous year. Overall, therefore, more pupils qualify to join the post-primary institutions than the previous year.

Meanwhile, male candidates performed better than females, where 60,070 males passed in division 1 compared to 54,547 females who passed in the same division. At least 172,827 males passed in division 2 compared to the 184,972 females who passed in the same division.

On the other hand, 68,272 and 43,794 males passed in Divisions 3 and 4 respectively whereas 78,311 and 51,908 females passed in Divisions 3 and 4 respectively.

832,654 candidates from 14,691 centres (schools) registered for PLE in 2022 compared to 749,761 in 2020. Of this number, 583,768 (70.1 per cent) from 11,306 centres were Universal Primary Education (UPE) beneficiaries, and 248,982 (29.9 per cent) of the candidates were Non-UPE.