By Alexander Mackey Okori
Over 87,650 candidates who sat for the 2025 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) will not be able to join secondary school after failing to attain minimum aggregates for admission.
According to the Ministry of Education, the entry point for students joining Senior One under the Universal Secondary Education (USE) is between 4 and aggregate 28.
However, according to the results released by Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) on Friday, January 30, 2026, said out of 817,883 candidates who sat last year’s PLE, only 730,233 passed the examinations.
The majority of candidates, 388,293, passed in Division Two, followed by 165,226 in Division Three, 91,990 in Division One, and 84,724 in Division Four.
While releasing the results, UNEB Executive Director, Dan Odongo said 7,503 more candidates passed in 2025, with an additional 7,689 students achieving Division One, compared to 2024, highlighting an upward trend in academic performance.
He observed that while more girls 380,264 passed the PLE than boys 349,969 in absolute numbers, boys outperformed girls in the top divisions.
For instance, 48,220 boys representing 12.54 percent secured Division One compared to 43,770 girls, accounting for 10.35 percent
Odongo revealed that a total of 186,638, translating to 48.45 percent passed in Division Two compared to 47.69 percent of girls.
He added that higher failure rates among girls stood at 42,580 ungraded candidates, equivalent to 10.07 percent compared to 34,500 boys, representing 8.97 percent.
According to Odongo, a total of 817,883 candidates from 15,388 examination centers registered for the 2025 PLE, up from 797,444 in 2024.
Out of these, 522,036 students from 11,525 centers were beneficiaries of Universal Primary Education (UPE), while 295,847 candidates from 3,863 centers were Non-UPE students.
The results reflect both the continuing growth in Uganda’s primary education system and the competitive performance of students, particularly boys, in the higher divisions of the national exam.
