Kampala, Uganda: The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has officially released the 2025 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results, with data showing that boys outperformed girls overall, despite girls registering in higher numbers.
The results were released by the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Kataha Museveni, during a function held on Friday, January 30, 2026, at State House Nakasero in Kampala.
Speaking at the briefing, Dan Odongo, the Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board, reported that 817,883 candidates registered for the 2025 PLE from 15,388 examination centres, marking an increase of 20,439 candidates (2.6%) compared to 2024. Of these, 807,313 candidates sat the examinations, while 10,570 (1.3%) were absent.
Although girls accounted for 52.4% (428,324) of the registered candidates compared to 47.6% (389,469) of boys, performance analysis showed that boys attained higher pass rates and lower failure rates overall.
According to the PLE performance breakdown, boys registered higher proportions in Division One and Division Two, while also recording fewer ungraded results than girls. In Division One alone, 48,220 boys (12.54%) passed compared to 43,770 girls (10.35%).
The overall divisional results show that 91,990 candidates (11.39%) passed in Division One, 388,293 (48.10%) in Division Two, 165,226 (20.47%) in Division Three, and 84,724 (10.49%) in Division Four. A total of 77,080 candidates (9.55%) were ungraded.
UNEB’s subject-by-subject analysis indicates that English was the best-performing subject at Grade Eight and above, followed by Integrated Science and Mathematics, while Social Studies with Religious Education registered the weakest performance.
Gender-based subject analysis shows that girls performed better in English, continuing a long-standing trend, while boys outperformed girls in Mathematics, Integrated Science, and Social Studies, particularly at higher proficiency levels.
UNEB further reported that more candidates passed PLE in 2025 than in 2024, with an increase of 7,503 passes, including 7,689 more candidates attaining Division One.
On examination integrity, Odongo revealed that cases of malpractice were detected in several districts, including Kisoro, Kampala, Mukono, Namutumba, Kassanda, Buyende, and Kaliro, leading to the withholding of some results pending investigations, as provided for under the UNEB Act.
Odongo attributed challenges in candidate performance, especially in Social Studies and Mathematics, to difficulties in applying knowledge to real-life situations, limited vocabulary in English, and continued reliance on pre-exam materials circulated by unlicensed examination bureaus.
Results for all examination centres have been uploaded on the UNEB portal, while hard copies will be available for District and City Inspectors of Schools from February 2, 2026. Candidates can also access results via SMS on MTN and Airtel networks.
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