Performance in the 2026 West Nile Primary Seven regional mock examinations has sharply declined, with the overall pass rate dropping by nearly 14 percentage points and more than 15,000 candidates failing.
The examination, organised by the West Nile Primary Schools’ Head Teachers’ Association (WENIPSHA) across 15 local governments, recorded a pass rate of 67.8 percent, down from 81.7 percent in 2025 and 77.9 percent in 2024.
The failure rate also rose to 30.69 percent, compared to 15.9 percent last year and 19.6 percent in 2024. The results have raised concern among education stakeholders, particularly because some of the worst-performing local governments have struggled with poor performance in previous years.
A total of 49,453 candidates from government and private primary schools registered for this year’s mock examination, including 28,182 boys and 21,271 girls. Of those who sat the examination, 20,011 boys and 13,523 girls passed, while 15,179 candidates failed.
WENIPSHA Academic Board Chairperson Amagule Gift attributed the poor performance largely to inadequate syllabus coverage, saying many schools had not completed the required topics by the time candidates sat the mock examination.
Amagule urged school administrators and teachers to ensure that the syllabus is completed and that candidates receive adequate preparation ahead of the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE).
The mock examination was conducted under the theme, “Assessment for Quality Performance by West Nile PLE Candidates of 2026”, as part of preparations for the final examination.
Koboko Municipality emerged as the best-performing local government, presenting 114 candidates who attained Division One. It was followed by Nebbi Municipality, which had 33 candidates in Division One.
However, Koboko District, Zombo, Obongi, Madi-Okollo and Arua District were ranked the five lowest-performing local governments.
The results showed that only 559 candidates attained Division One, while 7,055 were in Division Two, 9,766 in Division Three and 16,164 in Division Four.
Another 15,179 candidates were placed in Division U, while 730 candidates who had registered for the examination did not sit it.
The Vice Chairperson of the West Nile Development Association (WENDA) and Mayor of Nebbi Municipality, Opar Jackline, called for collective responsibility among parents, teachers, school administrators and political leaders to address the persistent challenges affecting education in the region.
Opar said the results should serve as a warning to education stakeholders to take action before the candidates sit their final PLE.
Arua City Education Officer, Ombere Raymond, urged stakeholders to focus on finding solutions to the challenges affecting education service delivery rather than simply attributing poor performance to individual schools or teachers.
The performance varied across subjects, with Social Studies (SST) emerging as the best-performing subject, while English was the worst-performing.
Mungudit Chrispus of Pajobi Primary School in Pakwach District was the best-performing male candidate, scoring Aggregate 5, while Janet Ambe Kennedy of Oasis Obolokofuku Primary School emerged as the best female candidate with Aggregate 8.
WENIPSHA awarded the top-performing male and female candidates, as well as the top two candidates from each of the 15 participating local governments, with mattresses, blankets, mathematical sets and other gifts.
The regional mock examination covered Pakwach, Nebbi District, Nebbi Municipality, Zombo, Madi-Okollo, Arua District, Arua City, Terego, Maracha, Koboko District, Koboko Municipality, Yumbe, Obongi, Moyo and Adjumani.
With the PLE approaching, WENIPSHA says schools still have an opportunity to improve the candidates’ performance by completing the syllabus, strengthening revision and giving learners more focused preparation-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
