WRITER: Brian Mukalazi. PHOTO/FILE
“Under the new curriculum, there is no word like failure because every candidate will receive a grade and a transcript describing his or her competence acquired”, said the executive director of the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) moments after releasing the 2024 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exams.
Indeed, of the 357,120 candidates who sat the 2024 UCE exams, 350,146 (98 percent) passed with Result One and qualified for the award of UCE certificate — only 6,974 candidates failed. And comparatively, there was an 80 percent drop in failure rates from the 2023 results where 34,530 candidates failed. In some subjects, candidates almost obtained perfect success rates.
For instance, all candidates passed Art and Design, while the failure rates for Geography, Agriculture and Christian Religious Education stood at only 0.1 percent, 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
One educationalist later approvingly wrote in the New Vision newspaper saying, “I can assure you that a parent does not need to move a child 300km looking for the so-called ‘good school’ and pay exorbitantly for scores based on remembering. The rural-based students have performed equally well.”
Personally, the new UCE grading system gives a bittersweet feeling. For one, I am happy that our young learners are now being assessed based on their competencies and unique talents, but on the flip side, I have material doubts regarding the reliability of the process, technical tools and assessors deployed – details of these are yet to be made public.
My prayer is that sufficient quality control measures were taken by Uneb, and the exams results are accurate. But in the likely event that they are inaccurate, the consequences could be severe, especially in the long-term, not only for the learners or parents but also for the nation.
We could be indirectly sending a wrong message to the learners: Don’t try too hard, don’t aim too high and there’s no need to want more, because at the end of the day, everyone is a winner.
We may get trapped in a system that rewards mediocrity — a system that celebrates the lowest common denominator and a system that actively discourages excellence.
According to the new grading system, scoring a final grade of ‘C’ or ‘D’ is good enough, and by the way, because of this, most students are opting for science combinations over Arts at A-Level.
But let me ask: If you needed an open-heart surgery, would you prefer a surgeon who scored grade ‘C’ or ‘A’ upon graduation? And how about the pilots who fly our airplanes — which grade would you be comfortable with? The answers are quite obvious. Right?
Nothing kills the human spirit faster than a culture of mediocrity. It systematically destroys the confidence and self-esteem of individuals and institutions who are exceptional by labelling them as selfish, greedy, close-minded and self-deluded.
Our young generation must be naturally motivated to strive and make our country a better place in the future. We are already living in times where scientific advancement is slowing, new and disruptive ideas are getting harder to find, job opportunities are scarcer, economic growth is slowing, and the climate is changing. But the solutions to these problems won’t just manifest themselves – they will need tough, resilient and self-motivated people.
My humble plea to Uneb is this: The exam grading system(s) should scientifically and reliably communicate the learners’ true potential, talents and capabilities. It should hold them to a high standard. Not an unreasonable standard, but one which will require them to push themselves from time to time.
Brian Mukalazi is the CEO, Talis Consults Ltd
