Top secondary schools set to raise S.1 cut-off points

Due to a reported improvement in the general performance of Primary Seven candidates who sat last year, top-performing schools are likely to raise this year’s cut-off points for Senior One entrants.

Traditional well-performing schools like Gayaza High School, Mt St Mary’s Namagunga, St Mary’s College Kisubi, Kawempe Muslim SS, Namilyango College, Kibuli SS, Kings College Buddo, and Ntare School, are expected to set their cut-off points between Aggregate 4 for boys and 6 for girls.

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But other schools that performed well, but don’t fall in the top 50 category, are expected to maintain their entry points.

According to the 2023 PLE results released on Thursday, of the 749,254 candidates who registered for the exams, 648,662 (88.0 percent) passed, compared to 714,702 (88.0 percent) in the previous year.

Of these (749,254) 86,582 (11.8 percent) candidates passed with first grade.

Another 336,507 candidates passed in Division Two compared to 472,416, who sat in the 2022 cohort.

A total of 156,290 candidates were in Division Three, while 88,269 passed in Division Four.

A total of 88,269 candidates completely failed the exams compared to 97,109 of the previous year.

This means those who failed the exams do not qualify for government sponsorship under the free secondary education scheme, which is going into the 17th year of its implementation.

A primary Seven candidate is deemed to have passed the exams if he/she garners between Aggregate 4 and 28. Usually, government schools implementing free education programmes take all candidates with Aggregate between 4 and 28.

It should be noted that the candidature decreased by 83,400 (10 percent) over the previous year. In 2022, there was a surge in candidature due to the hold-up that was occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 to 2021.

Mr John Chrysostom Muyingo, the State minister for Higher Education, yesterday said as usual, the cut-off will be determined by an automatic computerised system and that it will depend on the performance of candidates who applied in that particular school.

“You are well aware that the cut-off points usually go up based on performance. So, since many schools performed quite well, the majority will find their cut-off points increased due to the number of Senior One entrants who want to join,” said the minister.

“But others, especially those upcountry, will maintain the 2023 cut-off points,” he said.

The minister dismissed reports by some school heads that the ministry imposes on them candidates who don’t qualify to enroll in their schools.

“Teachers are fully involved in selection exercise right from the beginning and the ministry simply plays an advisory role,” he added

Most school heads talked about what they projected to be their cut-offs, while some shared their cut-off marks.

“For us, we shall take candidates with not more than Aggregate 16 and given our facilities, 600 Senior One students will be enough for us,” Mr Ishaq Mbalirwa, the head teacher of Madinah Islamic SS, Nsangi, said on Thursday.

The selection of Senior entrants is expected to be conducted between February 1 and February 2 at UMA Hall, Lugogo, Kampala and students will start their academic year on February 19.

Due to a slight improvement in performance in the 2022 results, many schools increased the 2023 entry points, while some maintained their cut-off mark.

In 2022, a total of 714,702 PLE candidates passed the national examinations and were eligible to join Senior One. However, less than 600,000 students were selected to join Senior One.  While some schools hiked their cut-off grades, others chose to increase the number of new entrants.

Background

How cut-off marks are determined

Cut-off points for any given school are determined by the Ministry of Education based on the number of candidates who sat for the exams. The ministry sets the cut-off points using an automatic computerised system that allocates students according to general performance and first choice preference of pupils. However, a school can also wriggle out of the maximum depending on the available facilities and the number of students who choose it as first choice.

The rest, even if they fall in the bracket of admissibility, are ‘sold’ to other schools during selection exercise.