Why boys outshine girls in exams

Kampala

Boys have for the third time in three years outsmarted girls in performance in the UCE examination.

The results, however, registered a sharp decline in the performance with 18,826 students (7.2 per cent) passing in Division One compared to the 22, 630 (8.5 per cent) students in 2011. In 2012,262,987 candidates sat for the UEC exams compared to the 267,024 in 2011. “Female candidates performed better than males in English language and Literature in English while the male candidates performed better in the large entry subjects,” Mr Mathew Bukenya, the Uneb secretary general, said.

At least 124,957 female candidates sat for the exams (47.51 per cent total candidature) while 138,030(52.49 per cent) males did the exams.

Completion rates for both males and females remained the same according to the education ministry statistics compared to the previous years where more girls dropped out of school before sitting for their exams.

Just like in the UCE results for the three previous years, the boys have always performed better than the girls in core subjects with the exception of English and Literature. And whereas the overall performance of all girls is poorer than that of boys, gender inequalities are a hindrance especially in the north.

Reasons
Education minister Jessica Alupo says the matter is a concern of the ministry.
She says a study is going to be commissioned on why the girls have always been outcompeted by boys.

She however explains that part of the problem is because of the many challenges that girls face. “Absenteeism has contributed to the underperformance by the girl child who is subjected to heavy work at home. While the boys are busy reading, the girls are somewhere occupied with the house chores,” she says.

The Kalungu West MP, Joseph Ssewungu, an educationist, says boys perform better than girls because girls are easily distracted from their studies. “The girls’ attention is easily diverted and they lose concentration. Sometimes they can hate a particular teacher and lose interest in the subjects taught by that teacher which is not the case with boys,” Mr Ssewungu said.

Mr Ssegawa Mbei, the Director of Merryland High School, Entebbe, says male students’ resilience makes them better performers compared to the girls.

mnalugo@ug.nationmedia.com