By Kamugisha Leonard Akida,
NATIONAL
Uganda National Examinations Board – UNEB on Friday (March 3) released out results for the 2022 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) exams.
The ceremony to release the results was conducted at the OPM Kampala and presided over by the state minister for higher education Hon. JC Miyingo.
A total of 97,889 candidates registered for the examination from 1, 969 Centres. Of the registered candidates, 42% were females while 58% were males.
According to the released results, female candidates performed better than their male counterparts.
“As was the case in the 2020 examination, female candidates
have proportionally (in terms of percentages) performed better than the males at all levels, and have shown a lower failure rate. Even at individual subject levels, they have shown a better performance,” said Prof. Mary Okwakol, the UNEB Board Chairperson.
The board further noted an improvement in the general performance of candidates especially at the
upper level of candidates obtaining 3 Principal passes while at the other levels, the pass rates are comparable.
While reading a statement on the release of the 2022 UACE results, Dan Odongo, the UNEB Executive Secretary disclosed that a total of 99.2% from the 97,890 candidates that sat for the 2022 UACE examinations passed and qualified for the award of UACE certificates.
“At least 43.5% of the candidates obtained 3 Principle Passes in 2022 as compared to 42.5% in 2020. At the upper level of 2 Principle Passes, we registered 70.3% compared to 69.8% in 2020 while the failure is 0.8% in the 2022 UACE results,” Odongo explained
UNEB in accordance with Section 4 (3) of the UNEB Act, 2021, the Board, has withheld results of 113 candidates over alleged malpractice however, the board Executive Director says they will accord the affected candidates a fair hearing before passing a final verdict.
Odongo noted there were lower cases of examination malpractice observed in subjects like Mathematics, Biology and Computer studies. He attributes this to external assistances.
Speaking at the ceremony to release the results, John Chrystom Miyingo, the state minister for higher education decried the increasing cases of absenteeism of teachers in schools calling on school heads to fight the habit.
Highlights on Performance
UNEB once again recorded a drop in the performance in Biology below the 2020 level where it had risen. Examiners have attributed this to candidates having problems in questions on Genetics, Ecology and applications of biological concepts to the environment, Classification.
While speaking at the same function, Minister Muyingo said Ugandans should be worried and concerned at the same time after such instances of students scoring zero marks for subject combinations they chose themselves.
“When a candidate scores zero at this level, there are many questions that cross our mind. What does this mean to us as teachers? Is it the food they eat? Is it the teachers who failed this candidate or someone else?” Mr Muyingo wondered.
The minister, however, partially blamed teacher absenteeism for the poor performance recorded in some of the 2022 UACE exams. saying; “The results could have been much better if all our teachers were rendering services expected of them. It is time for us to crack down on this habit.”
The minister further urged the S.6 vacists to consider enrolling for practical hands-on training in vocational and medical schools as this is a shortcut to easily acquiring direct skills to make one competitive in the labour market.
“Get interested in what is offered in our medical and technical training institutions,” Mr Muyingo emphasized at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala.
