When a parent picks a primary school for their child, all they care about are the chances of the child performing well in Primary Leaving Examinations.
Increasingly, that means not only passing in first grade, but also scoring highly while doing so. In PLE terms, that means aiming for a first distinction in each subject, or getting aggregate 4. That is the only way a child can get into the top-ranked secondary school.
In last week’s selection of pupils for senior one, King’s College Buddo, St Mary’s Kitende and Uganda Martyrs Namugugongo only took boys who had scored aggregate 4. The situation was only slightly better for girls, with the likes of King’s College Buddo, St Mary’s College Namagunga and Gayaza High School only taking girls who got at least aggregate 5.
So parents will usually take their children to the schools where the children will stand the highest chance of passing highly, to the extent that they can afford such schools. The fact that the Uganda Nation Examinations Board considers candidates up to division 4 to have passed is not much consolation to candidates who don’t make it to division one, their parents, or even their teachers.
