Seven out of the top ten best performers in the Ordinary Level (O’level) national examinations are girls, according to the results released by the Ministry of Education on Monday, October 4. According to the results released at the Ministry’s headquarters, the top female performers were Francoise Tumukunde from Institut St Famille Nyamasheke, Ange Diane Umutoni and Aimee Christelle Muhorakeye from Lycée Notre dame de Cîteaux. Others are Sonia Irakoze and Anne Utuje from Fawe Girls School as well as Agape Umufasha from ENDP Karubanda and Marie Rolanda Singizwa Byiringiro (GSNDC Byumba). Overall passing rate Overall, the girls also had the highest pass rate compared to the boys A total of 66,240 girls sat for O’level national examinations compared to 55,386 boys. On the basis of the pass rate, 53.7 per cent of the girls passed whereas the boys pass rate was at 46.3 per cent. However, the pass rate dropped by 0.3 percentage points from 86.6 per cent in 2019 to 86.3 per cent in 2021. These were the first national exams to be held in a period of two years after all physical school activities were suspended in order to control the spread of coronavirus. In Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) a total of 115,076 candidates did national exams while boys were 136, 830. 55.4 per cent of the total female candidates who did national exams passed whereas the pass rate for male candidates was 44.6 per cent. The total pass rate for the PLE went up by 0.9 percentage points to 82.5 per cent in 2021 up from 81.6 per cent in 2019. The 2021/2022 academic year is set to commence on Monday, October 11 and end on July 15, 2022, according to the official school calendar.
