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The government has registered progress in increasing access to basic education through its flagship programmes of Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE).

In January 2024, the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) released the 2023 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).

A total of 749,254 candidates from 15,859 centers (schools) registered for PLE in 2023 compared to 832,654 candidates in 2022 (10 percent decrease).

Out of this number, 501,602 (66.9 percent) from 11,365 centers were Universal Primary Education (UPE) beneficiaries and 247,652 (33.1 percent) of the candidates were Non-UPE.

A total of 86,582 candidates (11.5 percent) passed in first grade, 336,507 (45 percent) in second grade, 156,290 (20.8 percent) in third grade, and 69,283 (9.2 percent) in fourth grade.

However, a total of 88,272 candidates (11.8 percent) failed the exams and were not graded.

Relatedly, the number of registered candidates for the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) increased by 3.5 percent from 349,459 in 2022 to 361,695 in 2023. Of these, 118,633 (32.5 percent) were beneficiaries of the Universal Secondary Education (USE) programme.

A total of 361,695 students (17.9 percent) passed in division one, 85,566 (23.7 percent) in division two, 83,545 (23.1 percent) in division three, and 112,923 (31.2 percent) in division four.

The failure rate dropped by 0.5 percent, indicating that 329,939 (95.9 percent) of the learners who sat for the 2023 examinations could progress to the post-UCE level of education.

The government deployed 1,990 recruited staff to schools countrywide. In addition, 347 individuals (208 males and 139 females) were recruited on a replacement basis by the Education Service Commission (ESC).

This is expected to improve the pupil-teacher ratio across the country.

The Ministry of Education has disseminated Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Guidelines to 400 stakeholders in Nakasongola (200) and Kayunga (200) District Local Governments to promote good hygiene in schools.

The government also supported teachers and learners in 22 Primary and Secondary Schools nationwide in psychosocial services, including mental well-being, healthy relationships, and growing up challenges in selected districts108.