By Ivan Mugisha
Kamwenge District Education Authorities have expressed concern that at least 65 pupils might fail to sit their Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) which are yet to commence in early November this year after they dropped out of school.
Altogether, the district registered 4873 pupils to sit PLE for this academic year but 68 primary seven candidates never showed up for their mock examinations to prepare them for the forthcoming PLE exams.
``We registered 4873 PLE candidates this year and when we sat our mock examinations 65 did not show up and as a district we cannot just stay silent about this’’, the District Inspector of Schools,Edson Nuwagaba, highlighted.
The hotspot sub places for these dropouts include; Kataryeba Town council Nkoma and Kabambiro Sub Counties which have schools that have most refugee children.
Nuwagaba further highlighted the drop in this year’s primary seven dropouts compared to last year, where only 126 pupils out of the 4496 registered candidates did not show up for their PLE.
``There is a slight drop in the number of the candidates who missed their mock examinations compared to last year who dropped out compared to last year, last year 126 pupils did not show up for their mock out of 4496 registered number’’, He explained.
Nuwaga noted that as the district education department, they have already started engaging heads of schools across the district to locate families where these pupils who dropped out such that they return to school and sit their PLE.
He also called on the parents to support their children by supporting them through guidance and counseling such that they can return to school and sit for their final primary level.
``As the education department, we have already put measures to bring these pupils back to school by involving different heads of schools to locate families where these pupils come and have them return to schools’’, Nuwagaba stated.
``Parents should also play their role by talking to their children and support them to make sure they come back to school and sit their PLE’’, He stressed.
According to the school calendar by the Education and Sports Ministry, PLE is set for early November, 2024.