Most traditional secondary schools in the country have maintained last year’s Senior One cut-off points despite a higher proportion of candidates passing last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). A total of 648,662 candidates, who passed PLE in four different grades, are set to report on February 19 for their opening term in different secondary schools.
Schools in various regions have set different cut-off points, with some maintaining the same points as the previous year. For instance, Gayaza High School in Wakiso District kept the cut-off point at Aggregate Five, Ntare School in Mbarara maintained six points, St Mary’s College Rushoroza retained Aggregate Eight, and others like Nabumali High School Mbale and Wanyange Girls in Jinja maintained their previous cut-off points.
While some traditional schools maintained their cut-off points, a few slightly relaxed them, citing decisions made by the Ministry of Education and Sports based on the candidates’ general performance. Notable schools such as Kings College Buddo, Nabisunsa Girls, and Kawempe Muslim Secondary School are mentioned among those that relaxed Senior One cut-off points.
However, during a two-day Senior One Selection exercise in Kampala, some schools tightened their Senior One entry requirements by increasing one or two cut-off points. Examples include Comboni College Lira, Jinja Secondary Schools, Masaka Secondary School, Bweranyangi Girls, and Masheruka Girls, among others.
Notably, there are concerns about schools possibly selling placements to parents, prompting warnings from the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Sports, Ms. Ketty Lamaro. She emphasized that placements should be handled on merit to ensure fairness and transparency. The government has initiated an automatic process to generate placement lists at the ministry to prevent abuses and favoritism.
Some schools, however, have defied government directives and increased their fees structures for Senior One students. The increased fees range from Shs100,000 to Shs150,000, with school heads justifying the hike due to certain material costs for Senior One entrants.
In response to the increased fees, Ms. Lamaro advised school heads to adhere to the guidelines on school charges and seek advice from her office if schools have justifications for adjusting the charges. She reiterated that school heads increasing fees were contravening government policy. There have been long-standing complaints about high school fees, but effective measures to regulate fees in a liberalized economy are yet to be established.
Additionally, there is a call to pay more attention to the mental health of students, particularly the boy child, to address challenges such as gambling and drug abuse.
