The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has confirmed its decision to maintain the newly introduced competence-based assessment and grading system for the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exams without assigning numerical values, despite growing calls for such a change.
UNEB Chairperson Professor Celestino Obua acknowledged the widespread requests for numerical integration but emphasized that the transition to a competence-based system was a deliberate move to prioritize students’ acquired skills and competencies over mere quantitative performance evaluation.
Following the release of the 2024 UCE results, widespread confusion arose among schools and teachers attempting to decipher the new alphabetical grading framework. UNEB implemented grades A, B, C, D, E, O, and F, with A representing the highest achievement and F the lowest. Candidates who missed exams were marked “X.” Additionally, UNEB provides competency proficiency levels, outlining the expected knowledge and skills associated with each grade.
However, the shift from the traditional marks-based system to the competency-based framework has led to significant confusion, leaving parents and teachers struggling to interpret the new results. Some schools have attempted to bridge the gap by reintroducing outdated concepts like “Division One” and “Division Two,” despite UNEB’s clear stance against them. Others have tried to equate the new grades with traditional A, B, C, D, and E rankings, a practice echoed by some media outlets.
UNEB Executive Director Dan Odongo cautioned against comparing the new system with the old, stressing that the competency-based framework is fundamentally different. “Given the complete departure from the old grading system, no comparison can be made between the results of 2023 and 2024. Under the competency-based assessment, there is no ranking of candidates into divisions as was done under the previous curriculum,” Odongo stated.
Professor Obua clarified that while universities and other institutions may apply numerical point systems (e.g., 6 for A, 5 for B) for admissions, these were established by the institutions themselves, not UNEB. “It should be noted that those values were never created by UNEB but were instead established by post-secondary institutions for their own admission criteria,” he added.
Education Minister Janet Museveni acknowledged the public confusion surrounding the new grading system. She assured that UNEB plans to conduct awareness programs to enhance understanding of the grading system under the revised Lower Secondary Curriculum.
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