KAMPALA.
Academic giants are set to raise Senior Five cutoff points as selection kicks off today at Lugogo UMA Hall Kampala.
According to Mr Dennis Mugimba, the ministry spokesperson, the exercise will be conducted as it was done last year after the first cohort candidates under the Competence Based Curriculum wrote their exams in 2024.
“If there be any adjustments to the placement guidelines, we will communicate to the stakeholders during the two day exercise ” he said on Tuesday
His remarks follow concerns from some head teachers who said they were still awaiting official guidelines from the ministry. This is the second cohort of Senior Four candidates sitting examinations under the Competence-Based Curriculum.
How placement will be conducted
The computerised placement system will be based on candidates’ original school choices and their performance in the best relevant subjects for their preferred A-Level subject combinations. Under the grading framework, learners are assessed using letter grades A to E. A represents exceptional performance, B indicates outstanding performance, C signifies satisfactory performance, and D denotes basic performance. E is the lowest grade, reflecting elementary achievement.
A candidate qualifies for placement in Senior Five if he or she has obtained at least a grade D in one subject. For instance, a learner seeking to pursue a History, Economics, and Divinity (HED) combination must have scored A, B, C, or D in any of the relevant subjects to qualify for that combination. According to the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb), the letter grades are determined through a systematic process combining continuous assessment (20 percent) and the end-of-cycle examination (80 percent). Mr Filbert Baguma, the general secretary of the Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU), appealed for a humane approach in admissions, urging head teachers to prioritise students who selected their schools as their first choice.
“They should be given the opportunity to study from those dream schools because at times, schools deny them the opportunity and later admit those whose performance is worse than those who were not taken on. For instance, if they wanted AAA but a student has AAB, they may drop that student yet later take those with BBB,” Mr Baguma said. Mr Baguma also advised parents to enroll their children in schools they can afford. “Parents suffer mental health issues due to stress towards school reporting days. It is incumbent that we accept who we are and opt for schools within our reach.”
UCE performance
A total of 432,163 candidates from 3,975 examination centres registered for the 2025 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations, with 429,949 sitting the exams. According to Uneb, 99.69 percent these qualified for the UCE certificate, with most achieving grade C (satisfactory) and above. Higher achievement levels were recorded in English Language, Christian Religious Education and Geography. With improved overall performance, some schools are expected to raise the S5 cut-off points. Term One for Senior Five will commence on March