Girls have performed better than boys in the national examinations for the 2024/2025 academic year, according to results released on Tuesday, August 19, by the Ministry of Education and the National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA). ALSO READ: Kirehe District emerges top in national exams The results show that in the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), 75.64 percent of candidates passed, with girls making up 53.2 percent of the successful candidates, compared to 46.8 percent of boys. In Ordinary Level (O-Level), the overall pass rate stood at 64.35 percent, with girls accounting for 50.2 percent of the successful candidates and boys 49.8 percent. ALSO READ: National exams: Over 75% pass PLE, 64% pass O-Level Why are girls ahead The Minister of Education, Joseph Nsengimana, noted that the difference in PLE performance was more pronounced, partly because more girls than boys sat for the examinations. Out of 220,927 registered PLE candidates, 54.6 percent were girls, compared to 45.4 percent boys, a margin of over 20,000. For O-Level, 55.3 percent of candidates were female and 44.7 percent male. ALSO READ: Proof that gender policies work? Look at Rwanda’s schools Nsengimana acknowledged the trend, explaining that the government had made deliberate efforts to support girls in education, given historical inequalities that once limited their access. “Those efforts have borne fruit,” he said, adding that the ministry is now focused on strengthening support for all students, regardless of gender. Balancing excellence While girls outperformed boys overall, Nsengimana cautioned that the number of girls among the country’s top performers remains relatively low, underscoring the need for targeted interventions to ensure excellence across both genders. He further highlighted that the recently introduced remedial programme for the underperfoming learners in primary schools had already made began to have an impact, reducing the number of poorly performing students and raising the quality of results across the board. “The goal is not only to close gender gaps but also to ensure that every learner has the opportunity to excel. Rwanda’s future depends on empowering all students with knowledge and skills to contribute to national development,” the minister said.
