The Ministry of education and sports has today afternoon released the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) of the 349,455 from last year’s Senior 4 candidates today 9th February at State House Nakasero.
The UNEB Executive Director, Dan. N. Odongo, in his release speech said that the number of candidates increased by 16,063 (4.8%) from 333,396 in 2020 to 349,459, in 2022 reversing the decrease of 4,324 (-1.3%) that had been witnessed in the previous examination. Candidates took exams in 3,703 different centers.Of these, 114,181 (32.7%) were USE beneficiaries.
Last year’s UCE examinations recorded a unique examination paper of Chinese language which was being taught, examined, and marked by UNEB. Dr. Odong noted that 134 Chinese language candidates were registered, of those, 124 passed.
The UNEB ED also notes that the number of male candidates registered is 175,768 (50.3%) and that of females is 173,691 (49.7%). There were 2,077 more males than females who registered for the exam. In 2019, the number of females outnumbered males by 398.
Performance
Dr. Odongo notes that the males beat the females in overall performance and that the best performed subject was English language, whereas the worst was biology with a rate of over 40%.
“Worth noting is that performance in physics and chemistry has improved, although the overall pass levels are still low. Over 40% of the candidates have not passed the two subjects,” said Odongo.
He also adds that the performance in Biology continues to decline in comparison to the previous years.
Candidates with special needs
According to UNEB, 51 inmates at the Luzira Upper Prison who registered, all sat for the UCE examinations last year. Although none passed in Grade 1, 8 passed in Grade 2 and 16 in Grade 3.
He also added that those with hearing impairments were most affected, as they recorded a failure rate of over 17%. According to Odongo, to solve this problem, emphasis will be put on sign language to help such candidates. He also noted that this year, sign language will be examined.
Examination malpractice.
The UNEB ED also noted that despite the stringent measures introduced by the body to eliminate examination malpractice, the board continues to register cases of the vice. He also notes that most cases were recorded in the science subjects of physics and chemistry.
“A total of 1,035 results will be withheld in accordance with Section 5 (2) (b) of the UNEB Act No. 1 of 2021. The number of results to be withheld has been decreasing steadily at this level. Examination centers from which results are withheld will be notified through their portals,” said Dr. Odongo.
Hon. Janet K Museveni, Minister of Education and Sports, also expressed her disappointment in the cases of malpractice and vowed to take all necessary measures, including suspending or closing the culprits’ center numbers.
