Visually-impaired candidates fail exams
Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) executive director Dan Odongo delivers his remarks during the release of 2024 UACE results at State House Nakasero on March 14, 2025. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Esther Kyozira, the chief executive officer of National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU), wondered what could have caused the visually impaired to fail.
Yesterday, the Uganda National Examination Board (Uneb) announced a slight decline in the performance of the 2024 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) as compared to 2023. The decline heavily affected the visually-impaired candidates.
A total of 437 Special Needs Education (SNE) candidates registered, including 249 males and 188 females. One candidate missed the exams. Of these 25 are blind, 112 have low vision, 13 are deaf, 22 have severe physical impairments, 34 have dyslexia, and 230 with other categories.
According to the Uneb, of the 25 visually-impaired candidates, only seven obtained three principal passes, three got two principal passes, two got one principal pass, while 13 failed.
These were followed by candidates with low vision and those with dyslexia and other three registered under other categories.
Among those who got three principal passes include 62 with low vision, four deaf, eight physically-handicapped, 15 with dyslexia and 14 under the other category (those with conditions such as asthma, sickle cell, anaemia and epilepsy for which are allowed only extra time).
Uneb Executive Director Dan Odongo said 52 percent of SNE candidates, who obtained three principal passes, are registered under the other category.
“These other conditions are those that have an impact on the way a candidate performs. The low vision person is almost like me. Once you give me glasses and I'm mentally competent, I should have no problem at performing to my ability. This applies to other conditions, these are not given particular considerations except the extra 45 minutes,” Mr Odong said.
Ms Esther Kyozira, the chief executive officer of National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU), wondered what could have caused the visually impaired to fail yet they have been performing well in previous years.
She noted that Uneb has put in place most of the facilities that were recommended to support the visually-impaired and other candidates with special needs.
However, she recommended that Uneb continuously works with teachers, especially those with disabilities, when they are setting some of those exams to make sure the questions are friendly to the learners with visual impairment.
Mr Alex Ndeezi, the Member of Parliament representing PWDs, cited inadequate resources as one of the reasons PWDs perform poorly.
More stories on UACE 2024 results:
UACE 2024 results:Uneb urges government to strengthen STEM education
UACE 2024 results:Performance drops as candidate numbers surge
