UNEB registers improved PLE performance
Photo Courtesy; UNEB
By Damali Mukhaye
The Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) has registered an improvement in performance in the 2025 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), signalling encouraging progress in the country’s education sector.
Speaking during the official release of the 2025 PLE results at State House Nakasero in Kampala, on Friday afternoon, the UNEB Chairperson, Professor Celestino Obua said that the results showed that a higher number of candidates attained better grades compared to previous years, especially in literacy and numeracy.
He attributed this positive trend to sustained government investment in education, improved teacher deployment, and the availability of instructional materials. He added that schools are gradually recovering from the learning disruptions caused by COVID-19, and this is evident in the confidence and competence demonstrated by learners during the examinations.
Prof Obua noted that performance gains were observed in both urban and rural schools, highlighting the impact of nationwide interventions.
Meanwhile, girls have taken the top spot in English outperforming boys, according to the results released on Friday. However, boys dominated in other subjects like Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies with Religious Education.
Overall, more candidates passed in Division One (91,990) in 2025 than in 2024, marking an increase of 7,689. The majority of candidates scored aggregates between 11 and 30, with the mode at Aggregate 22.
Interestingly, a record 817,883 candidates registered for the 2025 PLE, a significant jump from 797,444 in 2024. The numbers reveal a notable trend: more girls (52.4%) completed primary education than boys (47.6%).
Key figures
In 2025, analysis by gender shows that 389,469 boys were registered compared to 428,324 girls, indicating that more girls than boys completed the Primary Education cycle. This has been the trend in recent years.
This trend of more girls completing primary education isn’t new. In 2024, girls made up 52.5% of candidates, and the numbers are consistent this year. What’s driving this shift? Improved access to education for girls? Increased support for female students? The numbers suggest a positive change is underway.
Nonetheless, UNEB registered 3,636 learners with Special Needs of various categories, including the blind, the deaf, the physically handicapped and the dyslexics, compared to 3,328 in 2024.
This is an increase of 308 (9.3%) candidates. The number of Special Needs Education (SNE) candidates continues to increase annually due to the awareness that has been created in the schools by UNEB, and the Ministry of Education and Sports. In this group, female candidates constitute 48.3% while 51.7% are males.
The Board also registered 61 candidates from Uganda Government Upper Prison, Luzira (54 males and 7 females), and 40 from Mbarara Main Prison (39 males and 1 female).
The 2025 PLE was conducted on November 3-4 under the theme: Embracing security and holistic assessment of learners in a dynamic environment.
Dan N. Odongo, UNEB executive director, said despite the bad weather and damaged roads and bridges in parts of the country, heroic efforts by the Local Governments and Uneb Monitors ensured that the conduct of the examination in those areas was successfully completed.
He said results for each examination centre will be uploaded on the Centre Portal and can be downloaded as soon as they are officially released. However, the district, municipal and city inspectors of schools may collect hard copies of the results from UNEB offices at Ntinda from Monday, February 2, 2026.
Parents, candidates and other interested parties may use the Short Messaging Service (SMS) on MTN and Airtel mobile networks. Results of the candidates will be posted on their mobile sets instantly if the correct procedure is followed.
UNEB urged heads of centres to study the result lists and submit any queries regarding, among others, name spellings, and date of birth.
“May God bless His Excellency the President in the new term that he will soon start. May God bless you, Mamma (Janet Museveni), bless the Ministry of Education and Sports; bless UNEB, bless our Parliament and bless our Motherland Uganda,” said the executive director.
Ends
