137 Headteachers Grilled Over Poor PLE Performance in Luwero

Reported By Spurb Ernest

On Friday, the LCV Chairperson Erastus Kibirango and the Education department summoned 137 head teachers at district headquarters and tasked them to account for each candidate that failed or be referred to Sanctions and Rewards Committee for disciplinary action.

137 headteachers in Luwero have been grilled over the poor performance of their candidates in Primary Leaving Examinations.

According to the PLE results for Luwero, 1085 (6.8%) candidates failed and 288 (1.8%) candidates didn’t turn up to sit examinations out of 16162 candidates. It’s reported the candidates that failed were spread in 137 out of 230 government schools in Luwero.

The Luwero District Education Department has listed Kyanukuzi UMEA Primary School as the worst performing school where 13 out of 20 candidates failed, Nakabululu Primary School where 11 out of 29 candidates failed, St Stephen Kyetume where 8 out of 16 candidates and Nyimbwa Primary School where 11 out of 21 candidates failed.

Other schools are Muwangi P/S where 11 out of 21 candidates failed, Kisazi P/S where 15 out of 22 candidates failed and Malungu P/S where 21 out of 66 candidates failed among other schools.

On Friday, the LCV Chairman Erastus Kibirango and the Education department summoned 137 headteachers at district headquarters and tasked them to account for each candidate that failed or be referred to the Sanctions and Rewards Committee for disciplinary action.

In a meeting where journalists were not allowed in, headteachers blamed the poor performance on candidates’ absenteeism in classes due to child labour, early marriage and lack of food.

Others blamed the poor performance on the lack of enough teachers and candidates with Special Needs who are unable to master what they are taught.

The headteachers pleaded with district authorities not to penalize them but to help them address the issues to enable them to eliminate candidates that fail PLE.

Hassan Khasim the Chairperson of Luwero Headteachers’ Association later told URN that they had committed to work with School Management Committees and District to address some of the gaps in the school.

Kibirango said the recruitment of more teachers is ongoing and they resolved that these will be deployed in schools with few teachers.

He added that the district leadership will also intensify campaigns against child labour, and early marriages and encourage learners to attend classes daily.

Kibirango said they also directed the headteachers to submit a list of teachers who absent themselves from work to the education department so that they are removed from payroll and later dismissed.

Kibirango however noted that headteachers were given the last warning and those whose candidates will fail in 2025 will automatically be forwarded to the District Sanction and Rewards Committee to face disciplinary action.

About 1756 candidates passed in Division One, 8977 candidates in Division Two, 2805 Division Three and 1250 candidates in Division Four.