Abstract:
For the last few years, there has been very poor performance at Primary Leaving Examinations in
the sub-county of Lira Palwo. The trend of performance has been persistently poor despite the
schools using the same national syllabus and prescribed instructional materials. This study was
carried to establish the causes of the persistent poor performance. The study used a mixed
approach and a cross-sectional survey design. The focus of the study was on the home-related
causes and school-related causes of poor performance at PLE level, as well as suggesting
possible strategies to overcome the causes. Data was analysed using Microsoft office excel data
analysis package.
The study revealed that there are a number of home and school-related factors causing poor
performance, and therefore, the study concluded that since there are a lot of home and school-
related factors leading to poor performance, a lot needs to be done by various stake holders in
order to overcome the causes of poor performance in PLE by pupils in Lira Palwo sub-county,
and the whole country, through an effective coverage of syllabi, good teacher motivation,
effective parents’ involvement, as well as timely and sufficient instructional resources and
favourable home and school environment. The researcher recommended the key stake holders in
education such as ministry of education and sports, district education offices, directorate of
education standards, inspectorate of education, school administrators, teachers, and parents, to
use the finding to determine the extent to which supervisory roles are being executed, and make
necessary adjustments for improvement, reflect and realise their role in the children’s education,
and execute them effectively, make decisions related to parents’ involvement in the academic
performance of pupils as well as teachers’ commitment and absenteeism, while to the other
researchers, the study recommends that similar studies be carried out in other areas.
