75% of students pass technical exams

Ubteb chairperson Silver Mugisha (left) and State Minister for Higher Education John Muyingo (second left) receive the results from  the executive secretary of Ubteb, Mr Onesmus Oyesigye (right), at their offices in Ntinda, Kampala, on Friday. PHOTO/ COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Overall, male students outperformed their female counterparts with 76 per cent pass rate compared to the latter’s 73 per cent.

Seventy-five per cent of students who sat for the final Uganda Business and Technical examinations have passed.
Releasing the results at their offices in Ntinda, Kampala, on Friday, the executive secretary of Uganda Business and Technical Examination Board (Ubteb), Mr Onesmus Oyesigye, said 11,334 (75 per cent) out of 15,019 students who sat for the exams passed. A total of 3,685 (35 per cent) students failed.

Mr Oyesigye said there was a decline in performance in the 2020 results compared to the previous year by 3 per cent.
“Compared to November-December 2019 performance, there is a 3 per cent decline in pass rates from 78 per cent in 2019 to 75 per cent in 2020,” Mr Oyesigye said.

He attributed the 25 percentage failure rate on Covid-19 disruption on the education sector, which saw students spend months at home, while others failed to get internship placements.

The board also noted that out of the registered 16,144 students for the March final exams, only 15,019 showed up. 

Mr Oyesigye attributed this to absenteeism, the Covid-19 pandemic and failure to pay tuition.
Students sat for exams in various programmes, including Technical Advanced Craft, Technical National Certificate, Technical Community Polytechnics, Business Diploma and Business Certificate.

Overall, male students outperformed their female counterparts with 76 per cent pass rate compared to the latter’s 73 per cent .

However, for Uganda Community Polytechnic Certificate category, female candidates performed better than male counterparts with 93 per cent pass rate compared to 83 per cent, respectively.
Mr Oyesigye said the board registered 36 cases of malpractice, a figure he said is lower than that of 2019 (68).

The board recommended cancellation of 19 results out of 36 cases after the candidates were found guilty.
Presiding over the release of results, the Minister of Education and Sports, Ms Janet Museveni, whose statement was read by Mr John Chrysostom Muyingo, the State Minister for Higher Education, asked Ugandans to embrace techincal vocational education training (TVET) at all levels.

“Parents and the general public should encourage our youth to join technical and vocational education to enable skilling of all youths. The economy needs more middle cadre technicians,” Ms Museveni said.

Mr Muyingo said TVET attracts employment unlike universities were many graduates end up on the streets for years.

Call for techical training university

The Ubteb chairperson, Mr Silver Mugisha, asked the government to fast track the establishment of  a TVET university to enable students who sit for Ubteb exams at diploma level to proceed to a higher level of learning.

“This will motivate our youths to join TVET education knowing that they will proceed to the university,” Mr Mugisha said.

He, however, said after securing an acre of land from Kyambogo University, the board sought approval of building architectural and structural plans which were approved. 

The board is at the procurement process for the construction of the assessment centre.