Tanzania’s 2026 Primary Exam Pass Rate Rises, Gender Gap Widens

What changed

Tanzania’s 2026 Primary School Leaving Examination pass rate rose to 85.22%, up from 81.80% in 2025. But boys still outperformed girls: 86.18% passed among boys, compared with 84.43% among girls, widening the gap from 1.30 to 1.75 percentage points.

The National Examinations Council of Tanzania said 970,876 of 1,139,273 candidates passed with Grades A, B or C. Girls made up more successful candidates in total, with 527,622 passes against 443,254 for boys.

Why it matters

Tanzania is seeing broader improvement in primary-school results, but the gains are not closing the gender divide. The figures show why a headline total can conceal a less comfortable pattern: more pupils passed overall, yet girls remained less likely to pass.

The difference is modest in percentage terms, but it has widened in a single year. The results do not explain whether that reflects regional, subject or school-level differences, so the national figures point to a problem without identifying its cause. Education authorities now have a clearer measure to investigate as they assess why girls’ pass rate remains lower.