LIRA: Over 400 pupils fail primary leaving mock exams

Lira, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | 461 Primary Seven candidates failed Primary Leaving Mock Examinations set by the Lira City Council Examination Board.

The city registered 5,593 candidates to sit for this year’s Mock exams in both public and private primary schools in Lira. But according to the results released on Friday, 8.24 per cent of them failed the exams.

Those who passed were 1,078 students in first grade, 1,802 in second grade, 991 in third, 1,042 in fourth, and 212 in Div. X, a performance which has been classified as better than last year where 857 candidates representing 15.7 per cent failed the exam. The best subject was integrated science, followed by English language, Social Studies and Mathematics.

Tom Okwir, the Secretary Lira City Primary Schools Examination Board attributed the result to the fact that the candidates had challenges interpreting questions. He is also concerned that some candidates haven’t yet mastered their names and index numbers which made it hard for the examiners to correctly indicate their marks.

But Daniel Okello, the Chairperson of Lira City Council Basic Education Headteacher’s Association (LCC- BEHTA) implored the head teachers to use the results to coach the candidates into getting better results during the final exams.

Lira City Education Officer Jasper Abura says that the only way to eliminate failures in the final exams is to guide the learners through corrections in the mock exams. As a result, the city has organized a week-long “Operation Catch-Up” learning camp for all the candidates during the holidays.

Meanwhile, Sam Atul, the Mayor of Lira City tasked the headteachers to help prepare the candidates saying they are the future of the City and Uganda at large.

This year’s Mock exam was done by 89 primary schools from both within and outside the city council compared to last year where only 79 schools registered for the same.

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