The Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni has urged Primary Seven leavers to consider pursuing technical and vocational education, highlighting it as a viable and government-supported pathway that has changed lives.
Speaking on Friday while releasing the 2025 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results at State House Nakasero, the minister emphasized that learners can now transition directly into community polytechnics under the newly established Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system.
“In 2025, with the enactment of the TVET Act 2025, the Technical Vocational Education system regulated by the TVET Council was legally established in Uganda to exist alongside the general education system. So, this technical vocational education system is also a pathway that learners who complete Primary Seven can pursue,” she said.
The government has 42 Community Polytechnics in addition to about 100 privately owned Community polytechnics which the minister said can also absorb learners from Primary Seven.
She said that P7 leavers who join technical and vocational education can obtain a certificate equivalent to O-Level after three years of study.
“The study duration in community polytechnics is three years, upon which the successful trainee is awarded a Community Polytechnic Certificate that is equivalent to completion of O-Level,” she said.
A total of 817,883 candidates from 15,388 examination centres registered for PLE in 2025 compared to 797,444 in 2024. Of this number, 522,036 (63.8%) from 11,525 centres were Universal Primary Education (UPE) beneficiaries, and 295,847 (36.2%) of the candidates from 3,863 centres were non-UPE.
Analysis by gender shows that 389,469 (47.6%) boys were registered compared to 428,324 (52.4%) girls, indicating that more girls than boys completed the Primary Education cycle.
Most of the candidates who complete P7 aim to join secondary level as opposed to taking a TVET career path.
However, education and skills development experts say that technical and vocational education should no longer be viewed as a second option but rather a strategic driver of skills development and economic transformation.
“TVET is not just a fallback option; it is a powerful pathway to employment. It is the accelerator of job creation, entrepreneurship, industrialization, and inclusive growth,” said education and skills development expert, Ham Wilson Lukurwe.
Experts say that early entry into technical and vocational education allows learners to acquire market-ready skills within a very short period of time.
The Uganda Examinations Board (UNEB) Executive Director, Dan Odongo said that the examinations emphasized the competency-based learning approach that the country has adopted.
He added that questions tested knowledge, understanding and application of the knowledge to solve problems in the community.
This, the education minister said, is the direction the country is heading, to ensure that P7 learners are equipped to cope with the requirements of the competency-based curriculum at UCE.
