Lira, Uganda | Private schools have taken full control of the top positions in the Lira City Council Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) Mock 2025, with St. Gracious Boarding Primary School emerging as the best performer with an average score of 98.00%.
This year’s mock examinations released on Tuesday saw participation from 104 schools, 88 within Lira City, and 16 from outside.
A total of 5,311 pupils sat for the exams, representing a 5.41% increase from the 5,024 candidates who took part in 2024.
The top 10 schools were all privately owned, with Elwa Sunrise Primary School (95.65%), Jerusalem Heritage School (93.33%), Kingdom Kids City Primary School (91.67%), and Saving Grace Annex Primary School (87.50%) completing the top five.
Other high-ranking schools included City Parents Primary School, St. Kizito Primary School, Saving Grace Primary School, Truth Primary School, and Day Light Primary School.
No government-aided school appeared in the top 10, although Canon Lawrence Demonstration Primary School, Olaka Annex Primary School, V.H. Public School, and Adyel Primary School were among the best-performing public institutions.
At the other end of the rankings, St. Joseph Primary School, Acwikot Primary School, Alira Good Hope Primary School, and Legacy Primary School were the four lowest-performing schools.
Out of all candidates, 973 pupils achieved Division 1, 2,067 Division 2, 724 Division 3, and 1,034 Division 4. There were 409 pupils in Division U and 104 in Division X.
Mathematics was the highest-performing subject, followed by Science, Social Studies, and English.
Boys outperformed girls in Division 1 passes, with 520 boys and 453 girls attaining the top grade.
Lira City Inspector of Schools, Tom Ronald Omara, noted that the results revealed a poor showing by government schools.
He urged all institutions to use the mock results to address weak areas ahead of the national PLE and advised top performers to share teaching strategies with struggling schools so that the entire city could achieve higher results.
Elwa Sunrise Primary School Director, John Bosco Tuli, credited his school’s second-place finish to the combined efforts of staff and the spiritual nurturing of pupils, saying that faith plays a vital role in developing young minds.
He cautioned school leaders against focusing solely on academics, warning that neglecting a child’s holistic development could be damaging.
Light City Junior School Headteacher Ambrose Okello attributed his school’s success to resilience and determination, highlighting that all their pupils passed in either Division 1 or 2.
Ahead of the national PLE, Lira City schools are challenged to lift public school standards to match the success of their private counterparts.
