For the third consecutive year, male candidates have outperformed their female counterparts in the recently released 2024 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results. This trend mirrors the outcomes seen in 2022 and 2023.
The results, which were published on Thursday afternoon, show that 45,203 boys (12.09%) passed in Division 1, 192,546 boys (51.50%) were placed in Division 2, 71,951 (19.25%) achieved Division 3, and 36,049 (9.64%) were in Division 4.
In contrast, female candidates recorded 39,098 (9.46%) in Division 1, 205,043 (49.63%) in Division 2, 93,333 (22.59%) in Division 3, and 39,507 (9.56%) in Division 4.
While the data reveals that boys have a higher percentage in Division 1 and 2, the number of girls surpasses boys in the lower divisions. UNEB Executive Director, Dan Odongo, clarified that this discrepancy can be attributed to the larger number of girls who registered and sat for the exams, rather than any inherent differences in academic performance.
The 2024 results also indicate that the majority of candidates (51.5%) attained Division 2.
In addition, Odongo addressed an alarming issue regarding some schools misusing the category of “special needs candidates.” He noted that certain schools have been registering students without legitimate special needs, such as asthma, epilepsy, or sickle cell anemia, as special needs candidates in order to take advantage of the extra 45 minutes of exam time allowed. While such students may indeed experience health issues during the exam, they do not require additional assistance beyond the time extension. These schools have been found to select their best-performing pupils to benefit from this allowance, raising concerns about fairness and integrity in the exam process.
