KAMPALA.
The Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) has today , Tuesday released the 2024 first cohort of Competence Based Curriculum Uganda Certificate of Education examinations with Art & Design emerging as the best done subject followed by History & Political Education ,Agriculture and Mathematics in descending order
A total of 359,417 candidates registered for exams, of which 177,133 (49.3percent) were boys , while 182,284 (50.7 percent) were girls .
A total of 136,785 (38.1 percent ) were beneficiaries of Universal Secondary Education and 222,632 (61.9 percent) were non Universal Education candidates . A total of 2,297 (0.6 percent) were absent , but Mr Dan Odongo , the Uneb executive director ,said the rate of absenteeism is significantly dropping compared to previous years .
A total of 743 candidates were candidates with special needs while 39 are inmates from Luzira Upper Prison and Mbarara Main Prison respectively.
According to Mr Odongo , a total of 350,146 (98.05 percent) of candidates who sat the exams qualify for UCE certificate .
“ This will be indicated on the transcript and certificate as Result I . …Candidates with Result 2 and 3 respectively shown on their transcripts don’t qualify for UCE certificates ,”he said
The released results show that Art & Design is the best done subject with 13.0 percent of candidates scoring A , 42.5 percent (B) ,and 98.0 percent (C) .
Only 2.7 percent of all candidates scored A in English and 96.4 percent scored D. A total of 99.3 percent of candidates who wrote Christian Religious Education passed in D and only 1.6 percent had A .Also ,only 3.8 percent of candidates who did Maths scored A ,while 1.0 percent got A in Chemistry and 1.9 percent garnered A in Physical .
Given the complete departure from the old grading system reporting of Grade/Division 1, 2, etc.; Mr Odongo says no comparison can be made between results of 2023 and 2024.
“Under the competency-based assessment, there is no ranking of candidates into Divisions as in the previous curriculum. A candidate will qualify for the UCE Certificate if he/she obtains a competency level grade of D in at least one subject sat for,” he said
The First Lady and Minister of Education Janet Museveni warned schools heads against displaying results of candidates without consent of parents ,saying this causes distress among candidates who have performed poorly .
“ The ministry of Education is going to issue a statement to guide schools on this because it also violates the new law in place ,” she said
She announced that Selection of Senior Five entrants will commence on February 20- 21 while the New Term will open on March 3.
Explainer :
Under the Lower Secondary Curriculum, the grading system typically uses a 9-point scale, with grades ranging from A (distinction) to D (pass), with A representing the highest grade and D being the lowest passing grade; this system is generally aligned with the national grading system used across education levels in Uganda.
A Senior Four alumni is going to be issued a separate certificate for project work. The certificate will show that in Mathematics, the candidate has an A, English Language, he has C, or whatever and then on the reverse side of the certificate, there shall be the descriptor. If a candidate has an A, what is that candidate able to do? So, that is how the certificates will look like.
NB: There are no failures [under this new grading system]. No candidates will walk way without nothing. Even grade E, which is the lowest, describes the competencies a candidate has been able to acquire.
Continuous Assessment done at school, and End-of-Cycle examination score in the proportion of 20 percent , and 80 percent respectively.
Grade A
A candidate who scores Grade A is regarded as exceptional and is believed to have demonstrated an extraordinary level of competency by applying innovatively and creatively the acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations.
Grade B
A candidate is considered outstanding after demonstrating a high level of competency by applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations.
Grade C
A candidate is satisfactory after demonstrating an adequate level of competency by applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real life situations.
Grade D
A candidate is regarded as Basic because he/she is has demonstrated a minimum level of competency in applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real life
situations.
Grade E
A candidate is considered as elementary after demonstrating below the basic level of competency in applying the acquired knowledge and skills in real life
situations.
1,629 fail transitional exams
Meanwhile , a total of 10,141 candidates from 1,028 registered for the transitional exams and 9,742( 96.1 percent) sat, but 399 didn’t show up . A total of 44 had special needs . Of these , a total of 1,629 (16.7 percent) completely failed the exams. Only 80 candidates passed in Division One , 503 in Division II ,1,710 in Division III ,5,820 in Division IV .