Results from the 2011 Primary Leaving Exams have been released this afternoon, showing a slight decline in performance, in comparison with the previous year.
86.4% of the pupils passed, compared to 88% in 2010. There were however more pupils that passed in division one last year at 9.6%, compared to 8.6% the previous year.
Results from 64 schools have been withheld over suspected malpractice including Cleverorigin Primary School and Godwill Primary School, both in Kampala.
The others include St. Henry’s Masaka and Kako Junior Primary School, also in Masaka.
In terms of performance at subject level, Basic Science and Health Education were the best performed, while Social Studies and religious education were the worst performed.
The schools in urban centres still performed better than their colleagues in rural schools as has been the trend.
Speaking after the release of the exams, education minister Jesca Alupo attributes the poor performance in rural schools to lack of morale by the teachers.
She cites challenges such as poor pay and long distances travelled by teachers in rural areas as major factors.
Alupo also points to poor command of the English language as part of the reasons why the pupils upcountry continue to perform poorly.
The minister also noted that many of the pupils who registered upcountry did not sit the exams because they were either pregnant or already married off.
Story by Hadijah Mwanje
