The Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) has said the release of last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results will not be possible this week as the Board has not yet briefed the line minister.
Uneb Spokesperson Jennifer Kalule revealed that the examinations body has written to the Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni, requesting an appointment for a briefing before releasing the results.
“The Board has written to the Minister to seek an appointment for briefing and is expecting to meet her soon. We shall communicate the release date as soon as we are done with all the necessary procedures,” Ms Kalule told Monitor on Monday.
Uneb usually releases PLE results before January 20, except the 2019 results, which were released in July due to the outbreak of COVID-19, while the 2022 results were released on January 27 due to the minister’s alleged busy schedule.
Primary school managers who spoke to Monitor said they were expecting the PLE results to be released this week since there was no interruption of the examination process.
Muzamiru Musembya, the director of Buwenge Blue Day and Boarding Primary School in Buwenge Town Council, Jinja District, noted that he would be “surprised” if they weren’t released.
According to Musembya, releasing PLE results early gives parents and school managers a chance to prepare for the next level of education for their children.
He added: “When results come out early as has been the case, parents plan for which secondary schools to take their children, while we, the school directors, get a chance of getting new pupils because some parents look at Primary Seven performance to give us leaners.”
Musembya further explained that his staff are already at the school waiting to register new pupils, but the turn-up is not as good as previous years but hopes the number will increase after PLE results have been released.
By press time, the education ministry Permanent Secretary Ketty Lamaro hadn’t responded to our repeated calls seeking a comment on this matter.
A total of 749,347 pupils sat for PLE in 2023, including 391,558 females and 357,789 males.
How do I check my PLE results in Uganda?
In your message box, type PLE <space> INDEX NUMBER and send it to 6600. For example, to check the results of the candidate with index number 654321/001, in your message box, type PLE 654321/001 AND SEND TO 6600. You will receive an SMS for UGX 500 per candidate.