Students of Teso College Aloet celebrate their UCE results at the school yesterday. At least 260 candidates who sat at the school passed with Result One. PHOTO/ SUZAN NANJALA
The Uganda National Examinaions Board (Uneb) has released the 2024 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) results for candidates of the first cohort under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Uneb Executive Director Dan Odongo, said the new assessment saw a change in the reporting and certification that presents a learner's level of achievement in each subject, with a letter grade of either A,B,C,D or E.
This is a complete departure from the old grading system reporting of Grade/ Division 1,2,and so on,which means the national examinations body has made no comparison between last year’s results and those of the previous year.
Mr Odongo said these letter grades were arrived at through systematic and technical processes (statistical and psychometric),which combine the learner’s score based on Continuous Assessment done at school, which accounted for 20 percent, and End-of-Cycle examination score which accounted for the remaining 80 percent.
“A candidate who has scored Grade ‘A’ has an exceptional achievement level, which demonstrates an extraordinary level of competency by applying innovatively and creatively the acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations.
“A candidate with Grade ‘B’ has an outstanding achievement level, which demonstrates a high level of competency by applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations,” Mr Odongo said while releasing the results in Kampala yesterday.
He added: “Grade ‘C’ is a satisfactory achievement level, which demonstrates an adequate level of competency by applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real life, Grade ‘D’ is a basic achievement level, which demonstrates a minimum level of competency in applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations.”
Mr Odongo said Grade ‘E’ is an elementary achievement level, which demonstrates “below the basic level of competency in applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations.
A total of 359,417 candidates were registered as the first cohort for the examination, including 177,133 males (49.3 percent), and 182,284 females (50.7 percent). Of these, 136,785 (38.1 percent) were beneficiaries of the Universal Secondary Education (USE) programme and 222,632 (61.9 percent) were Non-USE.
No candidates’ ranking
Mr Odongo further explained that under the competency-based assessment, there is no ranking of candidates into Divisions as in the previous curriculum.
Instead, he said a candidate will qualify for the UCE Certificate if he/she obtains a competency level grade of D in at least one subject.
“The overall results released by Uneb show that 350,146 (98.05 percent) of the candidates, who sat, qualified for the award of the UCE certificate, which will be indicated on the Transcript and Certificate as Result 1.”
Mr Odongo, however, clarified that candidates who did not fulfil the conditions for the award of the UCE certificate will have Result 2 indicated on their transcripts.
These include candidates who did not sit for some compulsory subjects, or did not sit for a minimum of eight subjects, or who have no scores from Project Work, a mandatory component.
“Result 3 will be indicated on the transcript of a candidate who has not met the minimum level in all the subjects or will have only achievement level ‘E’ in all subjects taken,” he said, adding that candidates with Result 2 and 3 on their transcripts do not qualify for a UCE certificate.”
New grading
Mr Odongo said the Board was able to put in place all the necessary assessment tools, including an in-house software named Assessment Management Information System (AMIS), and trained 63,041 Senior Three and Four teachers on the assessment of CA with emphasis on the use of digital assessment tools.
The training also included assessment of the Project Work, retooling 5,200 out of the targeted 8,000 existing examiners to equip them with new skills of scoring under competency-based assessment.
“At the end of the cycle examination, and a candidate gets a grade, the grading is arrived at by “very scientific process” that develops the cut-offs like ‘where an outstanding or exceptional (score) start from. Similarly, between which scores will we find candidates who have the outstanding score of ‘B’ until you reach the last score of ‘D’ and eventually those that are below that cut-off at the elementary level (‘E’),” he explained.
He added: “The Board, together with National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), developed the descriptors; first of all the level of achievement that have been stated as “exceptional” for the ‘A’candidate, outstanding for the ‘B’ candidate, satisfactory for the ‘C’ candidate, and basic for the ‘D’ candidate.
“Each of those levels have been given a descriptor, in other words, if we look at ‘A’, which is an exceptional level, the
overall description is that this candidate demonstrates an extraordinary level of competence.”
He said the achievement in all aspects of the competencies that are required to be demonstrated by the candidate (if it is in physics, how the candidate is handling apparatus, constructing their own experiments) are the different competence levels.
“When demonstrating an outstanding level (‘B’), this candidate isn’t extraordinary, but is at a very high level, and then we come to somebody who we are describing as ‘adequate’ (‘C’) and
‘D’ is at the minimum level of competence demonstrated in the achievement of this subject,” said Mr Odongo.
Uneb and NCDC, Mr Odongo said, with time, will develop subject level descriptors, which will talk specifically about if somebody has an ‘E’ or an ‘A’ in English language,what that person is able to do in as far as the achievements in language are concerned.
For now, he says they have these “generic descriptors” that describe the different achievement levels.
The Board, he further said, will issue a transcript which will show these grades, achievement levels, descriptors, and will also give some information about the overall achievement on whether that candidate holding the transcript has qualified for the award of the certificate.
The transcript will describe the overall result as Result One if the person has met all the requirements or sat for all the papers that he or she registered for in accordance with the requirements of the curriculum, and has achieved at these levels.
“For those that may not have met the minimum requirements, in other words, have missed or haven’t sat for all the compulsory subjects, haven’t done or submitted Project Work, those will not qualify. All this information will be on the transcript,” he said.
Reactions
The new assessment has, however, left a section of Ugandans perplexed, with a number of schools, parents and candidates saying they are yet to understand it.
Mr Michael Mayende, a teacher at Riverside SS in Busia District, said under the new grading system all the learners’ competencies have been categorised under Result One, meaning “all candidates have passed”, unlike formerly where students were graded in terms of Distinctions, Credits and Passes.
“We now have the outstanding, moderate and basic learners, all passing as Result One, while those who have not achieved any competency are in Result Two and these are considered to have failed in Result Three. The previous grading system would easily be understood, which is not the case with the current grading system,” he said.
Mr Mayende said proclaiming all candidates with different learning abilities as having achieved all the necessary competencies required to be ushered to the next level will prove a challenge to many parents used to the old grading system.
Mr Bruno Moses, a teacher at Busia Seed Secondary School, said he initially couldn’t understand the results, but did after he received the results.“I am happy that the failure rate has reduced with the new grading system compared to the previous system.”
Mr Dominic Maloba, his headmaster, said when he first looked at the results, he could not comprehend them and had to first seek an explanation from Uneb.
Mr Musa Isabirye, a parent, said: “My son scored B, C and D in some of the subjects and I am failing to understand what it means. Whereas the teachers had tried to explain, I still need more explanation.”
Mr Edgar Balondemu, a teacher at Kiige in Kamuli District, said: “We are teaching in both the old and new curriculum because (even) the curriculum books are yet to be out and with the ex-
ception of some teachers, there are those that have not been fully inducted and are struggling."
