Teachers’ strike blamed for performance decline in Katakwi

Apuuton Primary school pupils during tour
Katakwi, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | As the Ministry of Education officially released the 2025 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results on Friday, January 30, 2026, Katakwi District registered a notable decline in overall performance compared to the previous year.
Education officials in the district have largely attributed the drop to teachers’ industrial action, which led to nearly one month of lost classroom time during the academic year.
According to the results, Katakwi recorded 128 first-grade candidates in the 2025 PLE, with the best aggregate of seven achieved by more than seven pupils.
This marks a decline from 2024, when the district registered 151 Division One candidates.
Nationwide, the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) registered 818,010 candidates who sat for PLE in 2025—428,398 girls and 389,589 boys—representing a 2.5 percent increase from the 797,444 candidates registered in 2024.
In Katakwi District, a total of 2,970 candidates were registered across 72 government and government-aided primary schools and three private schools. The District Inspector of Schools, John Bosco Okiror, confirmed the district’s performance breakdown, noting that 128 candidates passed in Division One, 1,325 in Division Two, 727 in Division Three, 391 in Division Four, 369 in Division U, and 30 in Division X. He added that English emerged as the best-performed subject, with the highest number of distinctions recorded.
At Apuuton Primary School, 42 out of 116 candidates passed in Division One, while 73 were placed in Division Two.
The top performers, Shanaya Martha Malinga and Meshach Olaan, both scored an aggregate of seven. The school’s Headteacher, Simon Ewasu, said the institution continues to register steady improvement. He noted that in 2024, the school had 39 candidates in Division One and 69 in Division Two out of 108 learners, while in 2025, the number increased to 42 in Division One and 73 in Division Two.
He added that 16 candidates narrowly missed Division One after scoring an aggregate of 13. Ewasu attributed the performance to the commitment and resilience of teachers, learners, and other stakeholders.
At Katakwi Township Primary School, Headteacher Samuel Ogwere reported that out of 72 candidates, five passed in Division One, 60 in Division Two, six in Division Three, and one in Division Four. The school’s best candidate, Ekongot Fabiano, scored an aggregate of seven. However, Ogwere acknowledged that the teachers’ strike negatively affected performance, noting that learners lost nearly one month of instruction.
Meanwhile, Katakwi Primary School registered 25 Division One candidates out of 92 learners, with the remaining 67 placed in Division Two.
The school’s Director of Studies, Alice Adungo, said performance has remained progressive, highlighting Nathan Opio, Hellen Agwang, and Meri Philip, who all scored an aggregate seven in Mathematics and English, with some candidates attaining Distinction One.
Other schools in the district also posted moderate results. Atoroma Primary School registered 97 candidates, with four in Division One.
Akisim Toroma had eight Division One candidates out of 55, while IJB Junior School recorded five Division One candidates out of 28 learners.
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