Examination board withholds UCE results for 2, 060 students

The Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) has withheld Uganda Certificate of Examination (UCE) results for 2, 060 candidates from 86 centres.
According to the board chairperson Prof Mary Okwakol, the results were withheld on suspicion of examination malpractice.
“Malpractice was mainly in form of assistance from teachers, mostly in science subjects,” she said, on Friday at UMA show grounds while releasing examination results for the 2015 senior four candidates.

According to Ms Okwakol, performance in Mathematics and Sciences continues to be below acceptable standards, registering 90 per cent share of overall examination malpractices.
She however noted that those whose results were withheld by UNEB will be given an opportunity to be heard by the board before appropriate measures are taken.

According to the outgoing UNEB Executive Secretary, Mr Mathew Bukenya, senior four candidature increased by 2,748 from 2014 of which 45.9 per cent were Universal Secondary Education (USE) beneficiaries.
“Female candidates were 156,750 about half of total candidates who sat,” he said.
He further noted that teachers speculated on questions consequently misleading candidates to give wrong and irrelevant answers.

“UNEB laboured to curb malpractice. Majority was caused by external assistance especially practical exams. The shortage of science teachers especially in rural schools affected setting up of apparatus,” he added.
Overall, male candidates performed better than females who were better only in English and CRE, according to Mr Bukenya. He also said that overall performance improved, implying that teachers gave attention to weak areas.

According to him, English proficiency, that is, incorrect grammar, spellings, and tenses, is still lacking and teachers still mislead student to cram passages.
“Performance in sciences was poor with only 45 per cent of candidates who scored minimum competence levels. Despite efforts by the Ministry of Education and Sport to supply laboratory equipment to schools, candidates found it difficult to handle them,” he explained.

Speaking at the same occasion, the education minister Ms Jessica Alupo said the transition rate to Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) to basic secondary level has greatly improved.
“UPE continues to accord an opportunity for more learners to access education at this level. It is evident that the UPE programme provided by the NRM continues to provide a learning opportunity for many,” she said.
According to Ms Alupo, her ministry is working on fulfilling President Yoweri Museveni’s pledge for a government aided secondary school in every sub county.

She said selection of senior five students will take place between February 11 and 12.
“Reporting date for both senior one and senior five students will be February 22, when we are still celebrating the [ruling] National Resistance Movement (NRM) victory,” she said.