UCE RESULTS FULL REPORT: Boys beat girls, 1,035 results withheld
The 2022 examinations were conducted under the Theme “Integrity and Security in the management of examinations, the Health and Safety of Learners is a joint responsibility.”
The Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) and the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) have today in Kampala released the results of the 2022 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE).
The Minister of Education and Sports and First Lady, Janet Museveni, presided over the release of the exams.
The UNEB Executive Director, Dan N. Odongo, said candidature increased by 16,063 (4.8%) from 333,396 in 2020 to 349,459, in 2022 reversing the decrease of 4,324 (-1.3%) that had been witnessed in the previous examination (2019).
Odongo said that the 2022 examinations were conducted under the Theme “Integrity and Security in the management of examinations, the Health and Safety of Learners is a joint responsibility.”
General performance
The examination says there was a better performance in the 2022 examination as compared to 202 and that the failure rate has also dropped by 1.0 percent.
In 2022, 46,667 candidates were in division 1, 76,745 in division 2, 88,690 in division 3, 117,837 in division 4 and 15,756 in division 9 or failed to advance to the next level of education.
There is an improvement in performance in the significant entry subjects except in Christian Religious Education, Biology and Commerce. Mathematics showed better performance at the Distinction level but declined overall. The English Language improved at credit and overall Pass levels but declined at the distinction level.
Performance in Biology has continued to decline as seen in the last few years. Worth noting is that performance in Physics and Chemistry has improved, although the overall pass levels are still low. Over 40% of the candidates have not passed the two subjects.
Withheld results
Unfortunately, of the 349,459 candidates who wrote UCE exams in 2022, a total of 1,035 results will be withheld in accordance with Section 5 (2) (b) of the UNEB Act No 1 of 2021. He said the number of results to be withheld has been steadily reducing at this level.
Odongo said the measures put in place to curb examination malpractice resulted in a welcome reduction in the cases of malpractice.
Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics have been most affected, with external assistance, collusion among candidates, and impersonation and script substitution as the common cases, Odongo explained.
Prof. Mary Okwakol the board chairman of UNEB said the increasing cases of examination malpractice were due to inadequate briefing of candidates by some of the school head teachers, and centre supervisors.
Boys perform better than boys
In 2022, 345,695 candidates (173,761 males and 171,934 females) appeared for the examination compared to 330,592 candidates who appeared for the examination in 2020.
According to UNEB, female candidates performed better than males in the English Language. In Chemistry, the male candidates showed better performance in the higher grades but, overall, a 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.
Figures from UNEB indicated that 15.5% of males passed in division one compared to 11.5% for females; in division two, the males were 23.3% while the females were 21.0%.
In division three, 25.5% were males and 25.8% were females and 31.4% and 37.0% for males and females in division four respectively. In division 9, 4.3% are males and 4.7% are females.
Candidates with special needs
A total of 721 Special Needs Education (SNE) candidates (389 males, 332 females) registered for the 2022 UCE examination compared to 519 in 2020.
These consisted of the blind (39), those with low vision (115), the deaf (87), the dyslexics (88) and physically handicapped (94). There were 308 others with other forms of disability that only needed to be given extra time.
Odongo said UNEB made adequate arrangements for these candidates, which included modification of questions, provision of questions written in Braille form, providing support personnel for the handicapped and dyslexics, and sign language interpreters for the deaf.
Candidates with low vision were given question papers with enlarged print to enable them to read more easily.
Of the 46 blind candidates, 2 were in division 1, 13 in division 2, 11 in division 3, 16 in division 4 and 4 in division 9. And of the 120 deaf candidates, 5 were in division 1, 10 in division 2, 10 in division 3, 74 in division 4 and 21 in division 9.
Also, of the 66 dyslexic candidates, 4 were in division 1, 6 in division 2, 18 in division 3, 30 in division 4 and 8 in division 9. In the category of physically handicapped, 179 candidates sat the exams whereby 22 were in division 1, 32 in division 2, 41 in division 3, 65 in division 4 and 19 in division 9.
Of the 154 low-vision candidates, 41 were in division 1, 38 were in division 2, 35 were in division 3, 39 were in division 4 and 1 was in division 9.
Prisoner candidates
Odongo said UNEB maintains an examination centre at Luzira Prisons for the inmates to assist the Uganda Prison Service in their efforts at rehabilitation of offenders. The centre registered 51 candidates and all sat. Eight passed in Division 2, 16 got Division 3; 26 passed in Division 4 and One failed.
