A Look at 2020 PLE Results

The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) on Friday released results of candidates that sat for the 2020 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE).

UNEB said the exams which were conducted on March 30 and 31, 2021 attracted 749,761 candidates, a 7.75% increase from 695,804 who sat for the exams in 2019.

“Of this number, 513,085 (68.4%) from 11,231 centers were Universal Primary Education (UPE) beneficiaries, and 236,677 (31.6%) of the candidates were Non-UPE,” Dan Odongo, the Board’s executive director, said.

“This is the highest rate of increase recorded. Candidature has been increasing by an average of 2.5% over the last five years.”

Odongo said the increase was mainly due to some parents who chose for their kids in Primary Six to sit exams this year due to uncertainty brought about by Covid-19.

As I write this, schools are closed and it’s unclear when they’ll be re-opened.

According to UNEB, more candidates obtained Division 1 in 2019 than in 2019, with 659,910 candidates passing the PLE compared to 617,150 the previous year.

“Overall, therefore, more pupils qualify to join the post-primary institutions than the previous year,” reads Odongo’s statement.

“A candidate is deemed to have passed if he/she obtains Divisional grades of 1, 2, 3 or 4. Such candidates will qualify to register for any post-primary examination conducted by UNEB. This 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. Such candidates are advised to repeat.”

By gender, 353,925 (47.2%) boys were registered compared to 395,836 (52.8%) girls, indicating that more girls than boys completed the Primary Education cycle.

This has been the trend in the last five years, according to UNEB.

The Board registered 1,599 learners with special needs (blind, the deaf, the physically handicapped and the dyslexics among others).

Of these, 752 (47.0%) are females and 847 (53.0%) are male UNEB says females performed better than the males in English, but the reverse is true for the other three subjects; Social Studies & Religious Education, Integrated Science, and Mathematics.

“As we have reported in previous years, candidates’ performance in English and Mathematics tended to be poorer in questions requiring free expression or application of learned concepts in problem solving situations. Candidates performed better in questions that were direct and based on recall,” the Board said.

“Examiners again reported good handwriting and organized work presented by candidates. The number of candidates scoring zero in various subjects has generally increased compared to previous year.”

In terms of subject performance, SST was the best done while English registered the best overall improvement.

“… in English there was an overall improvement in performance at the minimum pass level. Distinction level passes declined slightly but the credit level remained the same. In Social Studies with Religious Education (SST), performance improved at the distinction and credit levels while overall pass level remained the same,” said Odongo.

“Integrated Science recorded an improved performance at the distinction level, similar to the levels seen before 2019, but the overall pass level declined slightly. Mathematics had a slight drop in performance across all three pass levels. SST remains the best-done subject as in previous years.”