Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has reported a slight improvement in last year’s Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations but noted a drop in a number of students in the sciences.
Mr Dan Odongo, the UNEB executive secretary, said the overall performance improved slightly and that, female candidates performed better than their male counterparts in the 2019 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) at all levels.
A total of 43,625 female candidates registered from the 2019 UACE. This number constituted 41.8% of the total number of candidates who sat for the examinations in 2019.
Of this number, 17,907 female candidates (41.4%) passed with at least 3 principal passes, 11,453 female candidates (26.5%) passed with at least 2 principal passes, 8,858 female candidates (20.5%) passed with one principle pass while 4,671(10.7%) female candidates managed 1 subsidiary pass.
373 female students (0.9%) failed to get any principle or subsidiary pass.
This number is better when compared to the 20,830 (34.7%) of the boys candidates who passed with 3 principal passes at all levels and 15,533 (25.9%) who passed with at least 2 principal passes.
Education and sports minister First Lady Janet Museveni said improved performance is a reflection of better efficiency and translates into reduced wastage of resources.
“I am happy to note that performance has improved and more learners have qualified for tertiary education. The fact that more learners can transit to the next level means there is more efficiency in the education system, I believe. This leads to less wastage of resources invested in the sector,” said Mrs. Museveni in her remark at the Office of the Prime Minister after releasing the exams.
“I am, however, very concerned about the very low transition from UCE to UACE in the sciences.
“I am even more concerned about the very low number of girls in the sciences. Regrettably, this is happening despite the fact that government, through the Ministry of Education and Sports, has invested heavily in the provision of teaching and learning materials and laboratories,” added the minister.
“Deliberate efforts now have to be made to increase the number of science teachers and improve their welfare in order to raise the numbers of students in sciences and improve performance.”