The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has officially released the 2024 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examination results at State House, Nakasero.
The Minister of Education and Sports, Hon. Janet Museveni, presided over the release, with UNEB Executive Director Dan Odongo providing a detailed breakdown of the results.
Odongo revealed a significant increase in candidature, with a total of 141,996 candidates registering for the 2024 exams, compared to 110,566 in 2023, representing a 28.4% increase. Of these, 61,957 (43.6%) were female, while 80,039 (56.4%) were male.
“This is a very significant increase in candidature compared to previous years. Males accounted for 53.1% of the increased candidature. It is possible that the change in admission criteria for primary school teachers influenced this, as candidates who would have pursued Grade Three teacher training after UCE may have opted for UACE instead,” Odongo stated.
The number of examination centers also grew from 2,101 in 2023 to 2,255 in 2024, marking an increase of 154 centers. A total of 140,888 candidates sat for the exams, up from 109,486 in 2023, an increase of 28.7%.
Female Candidates Continue to Outshine Males
While male candidates outnumbered females, UNEB noted that female students performed proportionally better than their male counterparts in key subjects.
“Just as we have observed over the years, female candidates, although fewer in number than male candidates, have performed proportionally better. The percentage passes at the upper levels (3P and 2P) are higher, while failure rates among female candidates are lower than for males,” Odongo highlighted.
Female candidates also outperformed their male counterparts at the principal pass level (A-E) in all humanities subjects, Physics, and General Paper. However, their participation in Science and Mathematics subjects remained lower, though it is gradually increasing.
Subject Performance Trends
Performance improvements were noted in Economics, Literature in English, Physics, and Biology. However, significant declines were recorded in Entrepreneurship Education, Christian Religious Education, Geography, Mathematics, Agriculture, and Chemistry.
“In the Humanities, we continue to observe challenges in interpretation of questions due to misunderstanding of key concepts. In History, for example, inadequate critical thinking skills limited candidates’ ability to analyse historical views,” Odongo remarked.
He further noted that some candidates exhibited limited exposure to the National Constitution, which is a major reference material in one of the History papers.
The results also showed a gradual increase in candidates registering for Mathematics and Sciences, with Mathematics recording the highest increase. However, UNEB observed that the low pass rates in Science subjects at the UCE level likely contributed to fewer students opting for them at UACE.
The released results will now pave the way for university admissions and career decisions for thousands of students across Uganda.
