By Our News Reporter

Performance in the 2026 West Nile Primary Seven regional mock examinations has declined sharply, with the overall pass rate dropping to 67.8 percent, from 81.7 percent in 2025 and 77.9 percent in 2024. The failure rate has also increased to 30.69 percent, with more than 15,000 candidates failing.

The examination, organized by the West Nile Primary Schools’ Head Teachers’ Association, covered 15 local governments. A total of 49,453 candidates registered, including 28,182 boys and 21,271 girls. Of those who sat the examination, 20,011 boys and 13,523 girls passed, while 15,179 candidates failed.

The Association’s Academic Board Chairperson, Amagule Gift, attributed the poor performance mainly to inadequate syllabus coverage, saying many schools had not completed the required topics before the examination. He urged schools to complete the syllabus and adequately prepare candidates for the Primary Leaving Examination.

Koboko Municipality emerged as the best-performing local government, with 114 candidates attaining Division One, followed by Nebbi Municipality with 33. The five lowest-performing local governments were Koboko District, Zombo, Obongi, Madi-Okollo and Arua District. Overall, 559 candidates attained Division One, while 7,055 were in Division Two, 9,766 in Division Three and 16,164 in Division Four.

The Vice Chairperson of the West Nile Development Association and Nebbi Municipality Mayor, Opar Jackline, has called for collective action from parents, teachers, school administrators and political leaders to improve education in the region.

Arua City Education Officer Ombere Raymond also urged stakeholders to focus on finding solutions to challenges affecting education. Social Studies was the best-performing subject, while English was the worst.