The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has disclosed that the number of candidates who obtained division ungraded (U) is quite high.
Speaking during the release of the 2023 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) at State House in Nakasero, the UNEB Executive Director, Dan Odongo, said the number of candidates in division U is 88,269 totalling to about 10.4%.
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. They are not eligible for admission to the Senior 1 class.
According to Odongo, there are districts such as Kibuku (31.5o), Madi Okollo (31.5%), Dokolo (28.9%), Kween (28.4%), Namisindwa (28.9%) where the percentages are well above the national average.
“Many other districts have over 20% of the candidates in Division U. It is necessary to find out the causes and address them,” Odongo said.
He however, revealed that a higher proportion of the 2023 candidates passed in Division 3 and above level. “Overall, the performance of candidates is comparable to that of 2022,” Odongo indicated.
A total of 749,254 candidates from 15,859 centres (schools) registered for PLE in 2023 compared to 832,654 in 2022. Of this number, 501,602 (66.9%) from 11,365 centres were Universal Primary Education (UPE) beneficiaries, and 247,652 (33.1%) of the candidates were non UPE.
Performance of Prison Inmates
Giving a insight into the performance of the specific groups of people, Odongo commended the performance witnessed at the UNEB examination centre at Uganda Government Upper Prison School, Luzira.
He said 69 candidates were registered in the prison school as compared to the 68 registered in 2022. Of these, 60 candidates sat, two passed in Division 1, 32 obtained Division 2, 15 obtained Division 3, five obtained Division 4, and six were ungraded while nine did not sit for the examination.
Examination malpractice
The ED also spoke about the issue of examination malpractice. Odongo said in accordance with Section 5(2) (b) of the UNEB Act 2021, the Board will withhold the results of the affected candidates pending completion of investigations.
He said where there will be a prima facie case, the Board’s tribunal (Examinations Security Committee) will accord all the affected candidates a fair hearing before making final decisions.
“After the conclusion of the hearings by the Board’s tribunal, the list of districts and schools with cancelled results will be published,” he added.