The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has revealed an improvement in test scores for the Primary Leaving Examination. This year, 88.4% of test takers passed the exam, compared to 86.4% in 2011. The total number of test takers who passed the exams also increased since last year, from 444,815 to 480,067. This number is some 50,000 greater than that of 2010: 431,706.
UNEB executive secretary Mathew Bukenya stated, “The report from Chief Examiners indicated that generally, the quality of candidates’ work has improved, compared to that of the previous years,”
There were a total of 565,663 registered test takers, and 20,989 (3.7%) students did not show up. 1,603 candidates had their scores withheld for alleged examination malpractice. Additionally, there was a noticeable gender gap in test results. In general, boys performed better than girls.
Students seemed to perform best on English and social studies, while continuing to fall behind in math and sciences.
Uganda spends approximately 3.98% of its GNI on education, placing it 89th among 168 nations. The United States ranks 67th, spending 4.79% of its GNI. However, in terms of public expenditure on education, Uganda ranks 43rd, allocating 18.29% of public funds in this sector. This proportional amount places it well ahead of the US.
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