UCE Results; Boys Outperform Girls as UNEB Withholds 1,035 Results over Malpractice

The minister of Education and Sports Janet K Museveni has released the 2022 Uganda Certificate of Education results indicating a better overall performance of candidates as compared to 2020.

349,459registered for the examinationin 2022from 3,703 centres. Of these, 114,181 (32.7%) were USE beneficiaries. The number of male candidates registered is 175,768 (50.3%) and that of females is 173,691 (49.7%).

However, only 345,695 candidates (173,761 males and 171,934 females) appeared for the examination.

According to UNEB Executive Director Dan N Odongo, the absenteeism of candidates, which had continued to drop over the last four years, rose by 0.3% in 2022.

While delivering his speech during the release of results at State House Nakasero on Thursday morning, Odongo noted that overall, the boys performed better than the girls.

“Female candidates performed better than males in the English Language. In Chemistry, the male candidates show better performance in the higher grades but, overall, a higher percentage of females obtained at least a pass. This trend in the disparity in the performance of male and female candidates has been observed over the years. Overall, male candidates performed better at all the higher grades than their female counterparts,” said Odongo.

He added that this year, examiners reported better quality work in English Language. However, in composition writing, where candidates are expected to exhibit creativity and originality, learners in some schools are still cramming passages from textbooks or what they call “model compositions” with unusual and difficult vocabulary.

The challenge of language deficiency is reflected in performance in other subjects, where Chief Examiners continue to report failure by the candidates to interpret the demands of the tasks set, failure to follow instructions, misunderstanding key words used in the stem of a question, and generally poor language expression.

Odongo says they have withheld a total of 1,035 results in accordance with Section 5 (2) (b) of the UNEB Act No 1 of 2021. This is due to examination malpractice.

“The measures put in resulted in a welcome reduction in the cases of malpractice. Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics have been most affected, with external assistance, collusion among candidates, impersonation and script substitution as the common cases. The number of results to be withheld has been reducing steadily at this level.  Examination centres from which results are withheld will be notified through their portals,” he explained.

In her speech, Minister Museveni noted that she has instructed the Permanent Secretary to investigate why at least 30,000 girls who complete Primary Seven do not complete the next level of education.

She further urged Arts teachers to go to class and teach, being loyal to God, the government and their students as her Ministry fights for their remuneration. “We will not stop fighting until a fair solution is found” Mrs Museveni promised.

The selection team for students joining senior 5 is set to take place at UMA on 23rd and 24th February 2023.