The results of the 2022 Primary Leaving Examinations released on Friday indicated that at least 97000 pupils failed the exams and will have to repeat the class.

Presenting the results at State House Nakasero, the UNEB Executive Director, Dan. N. Odongo said of the 832654 candidates who sat the exams,97109 failed.

"The 97,109 represented 12% of the total number of candidates who sat for the examinations in 2022. Such candidates should not be admitted to Senior One, but should repeat as they will not be eligible to register for the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examination later,"Odongo said.

This number is higher than the 74,878 who failed PLE exams the previous year in 2021.

The results released on Friday also indicated that 714,702 candidates passed the PLE compared to 659,910 the previous year 2021 representing 89.8% of the overall number of candidates who sat for the exams.

However, the examination body didn't reveal the number of candidates whose results were withheld but confirmed there were such cases.

"Scouts and examiners reported a number of cases of suspected external assistance rendered to candidates by third parties inside the examination rooms and smuggling of information relevant to the examination by some of the candidates. Security also arrested some distributors and teachers who had cut open question paper envelopes ahead of time in order to access question papers in the districts of Mukono, Gomba, Mpigi and the greater Masaka areas," the UNEB Executive Director said.

He explained that in accordance with Section 5(2)(b) of the UNEB Act, 2021 the board will withhold the results of the affected candidates pending completion of investigations.

"All candidates whose results have been withheld will be accorded a fair hearing by the board's examinations security committee. After the hearings are concluded the board will publish, in the media, the list of schools and districts from which results will have been cancelled."