Over 150,000 miss joining Senior Five, technical colleges
Senior Four candidates sitting for UCE exams recently. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- The Ministry of Education commissioner in-charge of secondary education, Mr Sam Kuloba, warned head teachers to stop wasting time administering exams to students instead of teaching them.
Kampala. Almost half of the students who completed Senior Four last year have not been selected to join Senior Five (S.5) or other tertiary education even when they qualified.
Some of the numbers failed outright to get the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) and will be required to repeat.
Mr Benson Kule, the chairman of the Education ministry selection committee, said 180,039 students were admitted to S.5 and technical institutions during the two-day selection that ended on Friday. The students are expected to report to their respective schools on February 25.
But Mr Dan Odongo, the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) executive secretary, while releasing the 2018 UCE exams reported that 288,387 of the 330,721 candidates who sat the papers had passed.
This means that although 108,348 candidates had passed, they are now stranded without an institution to join, whether private or government-aided.
These numbers now join an additional 42,334 other students who Uneb said had failed the UCE exams and would not get any certificate.
In total, 150,682 students are stranded, accounting for 45.6 per cent of the candidates that sat the papers.
This is minus the 4,721 who registered but missed out on sitting the exams and another 1,825 whose results were withheld over malpractice.
On behalf of the head teachers, Mr Martine Okiria Obore, the Ngora High School head teacher, appealed to government not to decentralise their issues because districts lack capacity.
The Ministry of Education commissioner in-charge of secondary education, Mr Sam Kuloba, warned head teachers to stop wasting time administering exams to students instead of teaching them.
“Recent visit to some schools established they have beginning of term tests, which take two weeks, another mid-term exam for two weeks and end of term which also take two weeks, spending six weeks of learning time, an equivalent of half a term, testing students instead of teaching them,” Mr Kuloba said.
He asked the head teachers to review their structure for improved results.
The State minister for Sports, Mr Charles Bakkabulindi, asked the head teachers to be innovative in managing their institutions.
