Girls outshone boys in last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). 

Results indicate that 87.4 per cent of the girls who sat the national exams (109,873 out of 125,606) passed, compared to 85 per cent (87,544 out of 102,442) of their male counterparts.

While the girls’ performance improved marginally – by 0.4 per cent – in the 2017 national exams compared to 2016, the boys declined in performance, with the pass rate dropping from 91 per cent to 85 per cent. 

The results were released yesterday by the State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Isaac Munyakazi.

However, boys dominated the top positions (nine in the best 12), with the highest ranked girl coming in 5th place.

Upcountry schools impressed, clinching the top two spots countrywide.

Frank Mugisha Nsengiyumva of Saint André Primary School in Muhanga District emerged the best, followed by Chadrack Sifayake of Morning Star Bright Academy in Gatsibo District.

In general, 228,048 students sat the Primary Leaving Examinations last year, compared to 187,139 in 2016.

Overall, 86.3 per cent of pupils who sat the PLE passed.

Figures show that 228,048 candidates sat the 2017 primary leaving examinations, 55.1 per cent of whom were girls.

However, more pupils (237,152) had registered for the national exams, only for 9,104 of them not to turn up for the exams.  

Munyakazi blamed this on relocation of some families and illness.

While 3.84 PLE candidates did not sit for exams last year, there was a marginal improvement in this aspect compared to the previous year when 3.56 per cent (6913) of the candidates missed the exams.

A total of 194,052 candidates had registered for the exams in 2016 compared to 237,152 that registered for PLE last year.

While girls outperformed boys in overall performance, male candidates dominated Division I (56.1 per cent) which features 11,930 students. But more girls were ranked in this division this time round compared to the previous year; 43.9 per cent as opposed to 42.57 per cent previously.

Compared to 2016 when 85.4 per cent of the PLE candidates passed, there was a slight improvement in the overall pass rate in 2017, which saw 86.3 per cent of the candidates pass.

The PLE results were released at the same time as O-Level results which showed that boys performed better than girls (92 per cent compared to 88 per cent).

Results can be accessed through REB website (www.reb.rw, click on ‘view exam results’ and follow instructions) or by sending a candidate’s index number to 489 via a mobile phone.

However, as has been the case in recent years, REB did not publish the names of the top performing schools, neither did they indicate the school which the star performers came from.

Nonetheless, Munyakazi said the ranking will be released this time round but only after the publication of the results for the 2017 A-Level (Senior Six) exams. 12 Best Performing PLE candidates1. Frank Nsengiyumva Mugisha2. Chadrack Sifayake3. Sam Musoni Nshuti4. Ighor Muhire Bisiza5. Christella Murangwa Ishimwe6. Vainqueur Ishimwe7. Ivan Rugamba8. Joshua Ntaganzwa9. Alexis Mugisha10. Gilbert Igiraneza11. Africa Neslly Ishami12. Winnie Teta Tesire

editorial@newtimes.co.rw