The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has today released the 2025 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results, with the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Kataha Museveni, officiating as the Guest of Honour.
The examinations were conducted on November 3 and 4, 2025, under the theme “Embracing security and holistic assessment of learners in a dynamic environment.” According to UNEB Executive Director Dan Odongo, the exams were completed successfully despite heavy rains, damaged roads and broken bridges in some parts of the country.
“We thank God that despite the bad weather and damaged roads and bridges, the examination was successfully conducted through the support of local governments and our monitors,” Odongo said.
A total of 817,883 candidates registered for PLE in 2025, an increase of 20,439 pupils compared to 2024. Of these, 522,036 candidates were from UPE schools, while 295,847 came from non-UPE schools. The examinations were conducted in 15,388 centres across the country.
More girls than boys completed primary school this year. UNEB records show that 428,324 girls (52.4%) sat the exams compared to 389,469 boys (47.6%), continuing a trend that has been seen in recent years.
UNEB also examined 3,636 learners with special needs, including the blind, deaf, physically challenged and dyslexic candidates. This number increased from last year due to greater awareness and support in schools. In addition, 101 prison inmates from Luzira Upper Prison and Mbarara Main Prison sat the examination, with several candidates scoring Division One.
Out of all registered candidates, 807,313 pupils sat the examination, while 10,570 candidates, representing 1.3 percent, were absent. UNEB said the absentee rate remained the same as in 2024 and was lower than in previous years.
In terms of performance, UNEB noted that less than 20 percent of candidates showed high ability across all subjects. About two-thirds of the candidates demonstrated average ability, while roughly 16 percent showed low ability. English emerged as the best performed subject overall, while Social Studies and Religious Education was the poorest performed.
A total of 91,990 candidates passed in Division One, an increase of 7,689 candidates compared to last year. Overall, 7,503 more candidates passed PLE in 2025 than in 2024. Girls performed better in English, while boys generally performed better in Mathematics, Science and Social Studies, and recorded a slightly lower failure rate.
UNEB also raised concern over the rising cases of examination malpractice, revealing that some invigilators and scouts were bribed or threatened to allow teachers to assist candidates during the examination.
“Examination malpractice has taken a brazen form, with some teachers directly helping candidates in examination rooms,” Odongo said.
As a result, UNEB has withheld results from affected candidates in several districts, including Kampala, Mukono, Kisoro, Kassanda, Buyende and Kaliro, pending investigations.
Parents and candidates can access results through school portals or by SMS on MTN and Airtel. To check results by SMS, type PLE, leave a space, then type the candidate’s full index number and send to 6600. Hard-copy results will be available for collection from UNEB offices starting February 2, 2026.
