Why male graduate numbers are decreasing at Makerere

There was a decrease in the number of male students who graduated from Makerere University in the last two graduation ceremonies compared to their female counterparts.

Out of a total of 12,913 students set to graduate during the ongoing week-long 74th graduation, 6,816 are female and 6,097 are male.

At the 73th graduation, 13,221 students graduated of which 6,809 (52 percent) were female and 6,412 (48 percent) were male.

This decrease has caught the attention of the Minister of Education and Sports, Ms Janet Museveni, who urged the university to address the issue.

“I notice that once again, the female graduands are more than their male counterparts at 54 percent. While this is very welcome, the university needs to take interest in the reducing number of male graduands,” Ms Museveni, who is also the First Lady, noted in a speech read for her by the State minister for Higher Education, Mr John Chrysestom Muyingo, on the first day of the university’s 74th graduation ceremony yesterday.

She added: “This trend is cutting across all educational levels, therefore, there is a rich research area for the university to interrogate.”

During the release of 2023 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results at the State House Nakasero on Thursday last week, Ms Museveni described the trend as undesirable.

According to the Uganda National Examinations Board, a total of 749,347 pupils sat for PLE last year, of which 391,558 were girls and 357,789 were boys.

In an interview with Daily Monitor, the Makerere University academic registrar, Prof Buyinza Mukadasi, said the male students could be engaged in ‘informal jobs’ such riding boda bodas, among others.

Dr Ivan Lukanda, a lecturer at the institution’s department of Journalism and Communication, blamed the trend on economic issues.

“They often find odd jobs to do during school hours to meet their needs such as rent, food, nice clothes and shoes. We need a national education system that caters for students who work and a clear financing policy for students from poor families,” Dr Lukanda said.

Prof Ndebeesa Mwambutsya, a Makerere University historian, said some sponsorships from the government and other private foundations favour girls more than the boys, which may be contributing to the decrease in the number of boys graduating.

“Of course, the 1.5 cut-off point system can also be a factor because 1.5 means go for those professional courses and most of them are government-sponsored courses, leaving out boys who are left to pay for themselves,” he added.

However, Prof Mwambutsya said the large number of female graduates is not surprising because it reflects the general population of the whole country.

According to the 2014 Uganda Bureau of Statistics report, the number of females stands at 51.21 percent whereas males is 48.79 percent.