Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has released Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) 2023 results at State House Nakasero.
UNEB Executive Director, Dan Odongo, said candidature increased by 15,008 (4.3%) from 349,459, in 2022 to 364,469 in 2023 The candidates sat from 3,808 examination centres.
Of these candidates, 118,633 (32.5%) were USE beneficiaries. The number of male candidates registered was 180,471 (49.5%) and that of females was 183,998 (50.5%).
“Performance in the 2023 examination is significantly better than that of 2022. The failure rate has also dropped by 0.5 percent. This means that 329,939 (95.9%) of the learners who presented themselves for the 2023 examination can progress to the post-UCE level,” said Odongo.
He added: “There is a significant improvement in the English Language, Religious Education, Mathematics and Biology. Noticeable drops were recorded in History, Agriculture and Physics. Performance in the other subjects has remained comparable.”
According to Odongo, in the English language, the presentation of crammed passages from texts in response to the question on original composition writing has greatly reduced, which may explain the significant improvement in the candidate.
“Performance in the sciences continues to be a cause for concern, with less than 20 per cent of the candidates obtaining Credit pass levels in Physics and Chemistry, and 40 per cent or more unable to pass. It is worth noting, however, the upturn in performance in Biology, which has been recording a steady decline.”
Examiners have attributed the low achievement levels in science subjects to several factors, the main among which are inadequate teaching, manifesting in the inability of the learners to master the basic scientific concepts; lack of practical teaching, manifesting in the learners’ inability to manipulate science apparatus and carry out the procedures prescribed in the examination papers and interpret any readings or observations that could have been made.
He said some schools have been reported to have no science teachers, which exacerbates the problem. Most of the examination malpractice cases at this level are in the practical papers.
“Female candidates performed better than males in the English Language. In the other subjects, males perform better, with the differences being very significant in History, Geography, the Sciences and Commerce. In Chemistry, however, the male candidates show better performance in the higher grades but, overall, a slightly 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.”
