Slight improvement in UCE but cheating still serious vice

Uneb officials however said in their 2009 examinations survey, they found out that in rural and private schools, Science teachers were working part-time in many schools.

Kampala
The group of Senior Four students who sat their final examinations last year performed slightly better than their 2008 predecessors, Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) officials said during the official release of the results on Thursday.

The examinations had attracted a total of 214,207 candidates, of whom 7.6 per cent passed in grade one, 19 per cent in second grade and 27 per cent in the third.

The fourth grade encompassed 43 per cent of the candidates where 4.5 per cent failed in grade 9.

Compared to 2008, there was an 8.1 per cent increase in candidature.

But the Uneb Executive Secretary Matthew Bukenya noted that the performance difference wasn’t of big significance.

More certificates
A sorry performance was however noted in almost all science subjects, a fall attributed to time wastage and failure to use laboratories in almost all the 2,317 examination centres countrywide.

“Some centres have severe shortage of science laboratory apparatus and equipment and it affected many students’ performance,” Mr Bukenya said.

“Candidates had difficulty in making scientific observations, recording data and making inferences from such observations and data.”

But in numbers, more candidates have received the final certificates compared to the year 2008.
Mr Bukenya noted that History and Geography were well performed although “English language, Christian religious education and agriculture recorded a decline.”

Boys reign
“Weakness in language expression was evident in science and arts subjects,” the Secretary said adding: “Candidates found difficulties in explaining concepts or describing situations. Examiners reported poor grammar, writing of incomplete sentences that do not convey any meaning, and use of unconventional abbreviations.”

Overall, as it was in the year 2008, boys performed better than girls, except in English.

But according to Uneb, there were other weaknesses especially in graph work where candidates were unable to choose proper scales “and their graphs failed to relate to the scales given.”
The results with failed science subjects, like in the year 2008, put a threat to government’s hyped policy of deliberately promoting sciences by giving preferential treatment to such students during admissions on public sponsorship.

Uneb officials however said in their 2009 examinations survey, they found out that in rural and private schools, Science teachers were working part-time in many schools.

They also said some centers were not using their laboratory equipment and chemicals supplied by the Ministry of education.
Released by Minister Namirembe Bitamazire, out of the 218,056 students who registered for the final examinations, only 214,207 finally sat for the papers leaving questionable a 1.8 per cent absentee gap.

Uneb didn’t offer any explanation for those who failed to appear for the final examinations although Mr Bukenya noted that the number of absenteeism had also steadily decreased over the last five years.