Why the number of science students keeps dropping

There were few cheers for science teachers after the release of the 2019 UACE results. School heads are perplexed and are searching for answers why science students’ numbers and performance continue to drop in national examinations.

Prof Mary Okwakol the Uneb chairperson, revealed last week during the release of the 2019 UACE results that the examination body was concerned about the low entry of science students at A-Level.

She noted that only 10 per cent registered for science subjects last year. In simple maths, it means only about 10,447 were science students out of over 104, 476 students who sat for UACE.

A similar frustration was shared by Janet Museveni, the Minister of Education and Sports in her speech at the release of the results.

The minister noted: I am concerned about the very low transition from UCE to UACE in the sciences. I am even more concerned about the very low number of girls in the sciences.
Regrettably, this is happening despite the fact that government, through the ministry has invested heavily in provision of teaching and learning materials and laboratories.”

According to Ms Museveni, she says, she learnt that in 2016 part of the low numbers of students studying sciences could be attributed to the very stringent selection criteria by schools which require admitting only students with distinction scores at UCE.

The Minister then appealed to schools to relax the unrealistic demand because a person with a credit three or four could ably study a science subject.

Meanwhile relaxing cut-off points as measure to increase science students contrasts with what I discovered during my recent visit to Uganda Martyrs Secondary School Namugongo in search of a vacancy at Senior Five for my niece who wanted to pursue sciences at the school.

A copy of an application from the school for Senior Five indicated that a student should have a minimum of only distinctions to pursue sciences.

Poor performance
Whereas the minister’s solution of relaxing points at Senior Five is a step in the right direction, the problem of dwindling science students’ numbers at A-Level could be much deeper.

An analysis of the 2019 UCE results released recently indicate poor performance of sciences.

According to a statement from Dan Odongo, the executive secretary at Uneb, there is still a challenge in overall pass levels for science subjects especially physics and chemistry where nearly half of the candidates failed to achieve the minimum of pass 8 level at UCE.

Odongo says the performance of girls in sciences at UCE was even quite lower. This was especially in physics and chemistry with nearly 60 per cent of females unable to score a Pass 8.

Odongo says examiners reported that candidates have consistently experienced problems in the handling of apparatus during the practical tests as well as making and recording observations and drawing conclusions from those observations; tabulation of experimental results and interpretation of the results.

“Examiners have reported that the cause of these inadequacies lies in the fact that teachers do not integrate the teaching of theory and practical,” Odongo says.

Odongo explains that one of the biggest problems in chemistry is that the candidates did not know the steps in balancing equations, including misspelling chemical terminologies which are indispensable skills in the subject.

Additionally, the examiners noted that there is a theoretical approach to practical tasks due to lack of practice. Additionally, making correct observations, recording those observations and making inferences are not well-exhibited in the answers.

Examiners, however, reported that in Biology, drawings have improved a lot compared to those from previous years as well as a reported improvement in the skill of connection of electrical circuits and taking measurements of voltage and current in physics.

There’s also inadequate coverage of the syllabus. Evidence available, according to Odongo indicates that in many schools, teachers are made to cover the syllabus by end of Senior Three or latest by term one of Senior Four.

“The result is that some topics are either skipped or lightly dealt with and learners miss out the basic principles. The reason for this practice is supposedly to have time for revision.
However, when learners have not grasped the subject matter initially, the revision is ineffective,” he explains.

No excuses
There seems to be no excuse as to why sciences continue to be performed poorly as well as attracting low numbers.

By large, sciences have been a priority area for government. Several initiatives have been undertaken to attract more students into sciences.

According to Ms Museveni, deliberate efforts have been made to increase the number of science teachers and improve their welfare such as salary increment and providing laboratory equipment in order to raise the numbers of students in sciences and improve performance.

The supplementary salary structure for Financial Year 2019/2020 from the Ministry of Public Service indicates that secondary school science teachers earn between Shs 795,000 and Shs1.2 million for diploma and degree holders respectively.

Such a salary is considerably higher than their Arts counterparts who earn Shs 745,000 for diploma holders and Shs 960,000 for degree holders. President Museveni also set up the Presidential Initiative on Science and Technology purposefully to enhance the development of science and research in the country.

What teachers say
Job Matua, a science teacher at Pope John Paul High School in Nakaseke District shares a similar view with Odongo, he says the low pass rates in science subjects at O-Level explains the declining number of science students at A-Level.

“Many schools do not want to give sciences to students who have not excelled at O-Level. For example, very few schools can allow a student to study sciences when they scored a credit five or six. Majority of the ‘big’ schools only prefer distinctions in science combinations,” he explains.

“We have few science teachers in both public and private schools and this shortage results into failure to complete the syllabus because the teachers are stretched.” Matua says this failure rate should be addressed collectively by ensuring that teacher training is done with emphasis on content mastery.

He adds that there’s need for continuous content-based refresher workshops for teachers especially in topics highly failed.

Charles Ondoga, the headteacher at St. Joseph’s College Ombachi in Arua District says admission to A-Level largely depends on the pass rate at UCE, however, Ondoga explains that there’s a high failure rate of sciences at O-Level yet the same number of science students who pass are shared with vocational and technical colleges.