The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has released the 2025 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results, showing a notable improvement in top-grade performance compared to 2024.
A total of 817,883 candidates from 15,388 examination centres sat the exams this year, up from 797,444 candidates in 2024. Of these, 522,036 (63.8%) were Universal Primary Education (UPE) beneficiaries, while 295,847 (36.2%) were non-UPE students.
The results show that 91,990 candidates (11.39%) achieved Division One (First Grade), an increase from 84,301 (10.7%) in 2024. Speaking on the results, UNEB Executive Director Dan Odongo said:
“As the Chairperson said, we have more candidates this year passing with first grade. That is 91,990 or 11.39 percent compared to 84,301 or 10.7 percent. So we have more of our candidates who have obtained Division One or Grade One.”
Gender Performance
Males slightly outperformed females at the top grade. At Division One, 12.54% of males passed compared to 10.35% of females. At Division Two, the gap narrowed with 48.54% of males and 47.69% of females passing. In lower divisions (Three and Four), females slightly outperformed males, though the overall performance remained comparable between genders.
Subject Performance
English remained the best-performing subject, with a pass rate of 91.9%, followed by Integrated Science (90.5%) and Mathematics (88.9%). Social Studies and Religious Education (SST) was the worst-performed subject, with only 3.3% of candidates scoring distinctions and a pass rate of 86.7%, down from 91.9% in 2024.
“English showed improvement, while SST declined in all categories, making it the weakest subject in the 2025 PLE,” UNEB noted.
Special Candidate Groups
Inmates from Uganda Government Upper Prison School in Luzira and Mbarara Main Prison also performed commendably. At Luzira, 4 candidates obtained Division One and 27 Division Two, while at Mbarara, 7 candidates achieved Division One and 15 Division Two. Odongo praised the resilience of these learners:
“In the past, we used to clap for this special group because they studied under abnormal conditions, but they are still doing extremely well, as you can see.”
UNEB also warned that challenges such as fake exam papers and difficulties in applying knowledge, particularly in SST, continue to affect performance.
The 2025 PLE results mark a key step for thousands of pupils entering secondary and vocational education, reflecting improvements in top grades while highlighting areas, such as SST, that need greater attention.