Announcing the results on Thursday, August 20, NESA Director General Dr Bahati Bernard said the results showed a significant improvement in students’ performance compared with the 2024/25 academic year.

Girls recorded a pass rate of 87.1%, while boys performed slightly better, with a pass rate of 89.59%.

A total of 276,579 students from 3,895 schools across the country sat the primary school leaving examinations. Boys accounted for 44.35% of the candidates, while girls made up 55.65%.

At the end of lower secondary education, commonly known as ordinary level, 149,015 students sat the national examinations, with 85.70% passing. This was a marked increase from the 64% pass rate recorded in 2024/25.

Girls recorded a pass rate of 82.62%, compared with 89.8% among boys.

Among students who passed and progressed to the first year of secondary school, 17,412 were assigned to boarding schools, while more than 226,546 will attend day schools.

For students progressing to Senior Four in general education, 18,944 were assigned to boarding schools and 57,276 to day schools. A further 26,098 students were placed in technical and vocational education and training (TVET), including 17,000 who will attend day schools.

Meanwhile, 7,497 students were admitted to professional education programmes as boarding students, while 148 will attend as day students.

State Minister for Education Irere Claudette said students who sat the national examinations at both levels had generally performed well, with the number of successful candidates increasing by more than 50,000 compared with the previous year.

“When the number of students increases and their performance also improves, it is understandable that this has an impact on determining the schools to which students are assigned,” she said.

However, Irere called for action against students involved in examination malpractice, including cheating and helping others to cheat.

“Cheating and helping others to cheat were observed, and wherever this occurred, everyone involved will be punished in accordance with the regulations governing national examinations,” she said. “For students suspected of cheating, we are not releasing their results today. We first need to conduct a thorough investigation.”

Bahati said the improvement in results was also reflected in the distribution of students’ scores.

In the primary school leaving examinations, for example, more than 10,000 students scored between 30% and 40% in 2024, compared with about 4,000 this year.

“Those who scored between 40% and 50% numbered more than 41,000 last year, but this year their number fell to 27,000,” he said.

“This resulted in an increase in the number of students scoring higher marks, with the number of those scoring between 50% and 60%, and up to 90%, increasing. This means that students who were previously below 50% moved into the category above 50%.”