More than three-quarters of candidates who sat for the National Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) have passed, while nearly two-thirds cleared the Ordinary Level (O-Level) exams, according to results released by the Ministry of Education on Tuesday.
Out of 219,926 PLE candidates, 166,334 passed, representing a 75.64 percent pass rate. Girls slightly outperformed boys, accounting for 53.2 percent of successful candidates compared to 46.8 percent for boys.
At O-Level, 95,674 candidates out of 148,702 passed, posting a 64.35 percent pass rate. Gender performance was almost evenly balanced, with males at 50.2 percent and females at 49.8 percent.
Several districts posted outstanding results. Kirehe District topped the PLE rankings with a 97.09 percent pass rate, followed by Kicukiro (92.28%), Ngoma (90.93%), Nyagatare (87.18%), and Rusizi (85.93%).
For O-Level, the best-performing district registered a 91.3 percent pass rate.
Education officials linked the results to recent reforms, particularly the adoption of a 50 percent pass mark across all subjects. The policy, introduced to raise academic standards, has reduced the number of candidates clustered near the lowest performance levels.
Students who did not meet the pass mark will be enrolled in remedial classes, aimed at strengthening learning outcomes rather than penalizing learners.
The Ministry of Education said the results demonstrate progress but emphasized the need to build on the momentum by sharing best practices from top-performing districts and ensuring struggling learners receive adequate support.
“These results show that the reforms are working, but also remind us of the responsibility to ensure no learner is left behind,” officials noted.
