By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
NATIONAL
A total of 77,080 candidates, representing 9.55%, failed the 2025 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), marking an increase of 12,829 candidates compared to the 64,251 (8.2%) who were ungraded in 2024.
According to UNEB results released on Friday, 807,313 candidates from 15,388 examination centres across the country sat for the PLE 2025 examinations.
Selection exercise for Senior One students will take place on February 12 and 13, 2026, while the first term for the Senior One cohort of 2026 will begin on Monday, March 2, 2026.
Of these, 91,990 candidates (11.39%) passed in Division One, 388,293 (48.10%) in Division Two, 165,226 (20.47%) in Division Three, while 84,724 candidates (10.49%) obtained Division Four. The remaining 77,080 candidates (9.55%) were ungraded.
UNEB attributed the poor performance largely to persistent teacher absenteeism and the proliferation of private examination bureaus, noting that many schools, learners and parents focus on examinations set by these private bureaus, mistakenly believing they reflect Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) standards, a practice that diverts attention from the official curriculum and weakens learner preparedness for national examinations. Poor interpretation of questions by learners has also been blamed for poor performance in PLE.
Speaking at the release of the results, the Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Kataha Museveni, expressed concern over the rising number of ungraded candidates, particularly in public schools that receive government funding and have salaried teachers.
“We need to not stop at lamenting about the unsuspecting academic performance of our learners, but put to task those who are on the frontline to explain why the results are the way they are,” Kataha said.
The minister urged learners who may fail to transition to either O-Level or vocational education pathways to remain hopeful and consider repeating Primary Seven to enable them obtain a certificate marking completion of the primary education cycle.
Kataha noted that the Ministry of Education and Sports is implementing several interventions aimed at strengthening teacher capacity and ensuring that learners acquire the competencies required under the competency-based curriculum.
“The Ministry of Education and Sports has embarked on reviewing the primary school curriculum to ensure alignment with the revised lower secondary curriculum. This will also be an opportunity to review how learning in primary education is monitored and assessed,” she said.
She added that the interventions are part of the National Teacher Policy 2019, whose standards are being implemented through both pre-service and in-service training programmes.
“This is very important not only for our ministry, but also for the country as a whole,” Kataha said.
Declaring the results officially released, the minister said: “It is now my singular honour to release the 2025 Primary Leaving Examination results for public use.”
She further announced that the selection exercise for Senior One students will take place on February 12 and 13, 2026. The ministry, she said, will issue detailed guidelines ahead of the exercise.
According to the education ministry, the first term for the Senior One cohort of 2026 will begin on Monday, March 2, 2026.
