Candidates’ performance improves

The number of candidates who scored at least a principal pass in last year’s Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations has improved from the previous year.

Mr Dan Odongo, the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) executive secretary, yesterday reported that candidates scoring at least one principal pass in 2019 increased by 5,514 from the 2018 results.

However, the overall candidates’ performance has not changed. According to Uneb statistics, the overall performance of students who qualified for the UACE award remained at 98.6 per cent as in the previous year.

More than a half of the candidates who sat the 2019 examinations scored at least two principal passes, which make them eligible to join any university for a degree course.

“More candidates have qualified for tertiary level admission compared to 2018. At least 98.6 per cent candidates qualified for the award of the UACE, similar to 2018,” Mr Odongo said as he presented the results to Education Minister Janet Museveni in Kampala yesterday.
The number of candidates registering for A-Level exams increased from 99,576 in 2018 to 104,476 in 2019 but only 103,429 sat the papers, meaning 1,047 did not show up for the examinations.

The number of special needs candidates also increased to 205 last year, up from 177 who registered in 2018.
Although female candidates contributed 41.8 per cent of the results, they performed better than their male counterparts.

Mr Odongo noted that there was a general decline in candidate performance in Economics, Entrepreneurship Education, Geography and Chemistry subjects.
Female candidates performed better than their male counterparts at Principal pass level (A-E) in humanities, Mathematics, Physics and Agriculture. However, the male students were better in Chemistry, Biology, Art and General Paper.

In 2004, government directed that all students in O-Level study science subjects. But government officials are worried that the heavy investment in laboratories and other related infrastructure has not translated into corresponding improvement in science results.
The Uneb chairperson, Prof Mary Okwakol, yesterday said they have consistently registered fewer candidates in science subjects at higher levels of learning.

“Uneb’s concern, which we have expressed before, is that entries for science subjects are quite low. Only 30 per cent of candidates registered for Mathematics and just above 10 per cent of the total candidature registered for science subjects,” Prof Okwakol observed.

She added: “This is a persistent trend that needs to be addressed urgently to ensure that the nation has sufficient numbers of learners in science disciplines to enrol for science-based professional programmes at universities and other tertiary institutions.”

There were fewer cases of exam malpractice with Uneb withholding results for 126 candidates pending the hearing to determine the final fate.

The minister of Education and Sports, Ms Janet Museveni, attributed the low female enrolment at A-Level to those who opt to join Primary Teachers’ Colleges and nursing and midwifery training institutions, which are dominated by girls.

“I am, however, concerned about the very low transition from Uganda Certificate of Education (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 of Education and Sports, has invested heavily in provision of teaching and learning materials and laboratories,” Ms Museveni said.

She appealed to schools to reduce their entry points for science subjects at A-Level to allow more candidates enrol.
Ms Museveni appealed to 1,433 students who failed to repeat and improve their grades.

Development

Meanwhile, State Minister for Higher Education Chrysostom Muyingo said they have included their proposal in the White Paper to legalise a body that will be responsible for higher education admissions, which they will present before Cabinet ‘soon’ for consideration.

This followed a High Court ruling in Kampala in 2014 which declared that the Public Universities Joint Admissions Board (PUJAB), which had been handling university admissions for a long time, was illegal.

Mr John Manzi, a former student of Naalya SSS, petitioned court challenging PUJAB’s legality after Makerere University failed to admit him on a Bachelor of Laws degree on government sponsorship.

The government later created a committee which has since been serving to manage admissions to public universities pending legalising PUJAB.

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