PASS PLE a game changer for candidates in Moroto School
At the beginning of this year, Robert Okiror says, the school had 24 candidates, but only 17 managed to get the registration fees for the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). The seven who didn’t make it went back to Primary Six.
Teacher Losike Kizito engaging Primary Six learners in a newspaper discussion. (Credit: Ritah Mukasa)
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Every Monday, Anna Lotukoi 14, and her classmates look out for copies of the Weekend Vision purposely to get the PASS PLE pullouts, which they use during their group discussions and revision.
Lotukoi is among the 17 candidates at Lolet-Ekia Primary School located in Nadunget sub-county, Moroto district, Karamoja sub-region.
At the beginning of this year, Robert Okiror says, the school had 24 candidates, but only 17 managed to get the registration fees for the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). The seven who didn’t make it went back to Primary Six.
Regardless, Okiror is confident these candidates will score highly compared to the previous years because this time, teachers have concentrated more on syllabus completion and revision using past papers and PASS PLE questions and answers, published in the Weekend Vision.
“The PASS PLE pullout helps a lot in Primary six and seven,” he says. Candidates no longer waste time since they have work to discuss among themselves when the teachers are not in class.
Learners also enjoy reading and discussing current affairs. (Credit: Ritah Mukasa)
Primary Six pupils look forward to reading PASS PLE every week. (Credit: Ritah Mukasa)
“They also compare what we teach them with what other candidates, especially in Kampala, learn.” This, Okiror says, confirms that they learn the same content, hence motivating them to work hard.
Besides, they have developed a reading culture which has helped to improve their spelling and comprehension skills.
Most importantly, Moses Amodoi, who has taught Primary Six and Seven for the last three years, says newspapers have helped to improve the general performance. For example, in 2024, their best candidate had 17 aggregates, followed by third grades, but in 2024 and 2025, the best had 16 aggregates. They also had six second grades and hope to perform better this year.
Speaking from experience, Moses Kaukan, another Primary Seven teacher, says, children who are not exposed to newspapers cannot compete with their counterparts who use these materials every day. In his former school, he says, he struggled to teach mathematics and English because he lacked instructional materials. But things changed for him seven months ago when he was posted to Lolet-Ekia, where he found teachers using newspapers in class.
Elsewhere, in the lower classes, Losike Kizito, the Primary one and two teacher, says, many learners can now blend letters to form words and sentences thanks to the activities in TOTO magazine such as word search, puzzles, matching words to pictures and joining the dots to form a picture. They have also learnt to identify letters and read stories as well.
About the NiE program
Every week, Lolet-Ekia Primary School receives 25 copies of Weekend Vision and TOTO Magazine under the Newspapers in Education (NiE) programme, which is being funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) through Save the Children in partnership with New Vision. NORAD is implementing a five-year programme from 2024 to 2028 called “Transforming the Future-For and with Children” in Acholi and Karamoja regions. The program aims to ensure that all children enjoy their rights to survival, protection, development and participation in a safe, inclusive, accountable and resilient environment.
