Uganda National Examination Board has today ended the final set of end of examination cycle following the official release of UACE results.
According to UNEB, a total of 1,175,024 young people completed P.7, S.4 and S.6 in academic year 2020.
‘‘We celebrate what our young people have achieved in the face of all gloom and despondency that many of our people were driven into by the pandemic’’ education minister Janet tweeted.
‘‘In addition, we are very grateful that the 2020 UACE Examinations were conducted smoothly just like P.L.E and U.C.E.’’ she added.
However, the 2020 UACE performance was better than the previous cycle of 2019.
There was a 70% difference of the candidates in 2020 compared with 64% in 2019 attained two or more Principal passes to qualify them for university education.
The figures given by UNEB also indicate an increase in the number of candidates that took Sciences in 2020 compared with 2019. This development must be applauded and encouraged.
In talking about safety, the minister of education Janet Museveni reminded Head teachers, Principals and Heads of other Education Institutions of Learning, to mobilize respective teachers, non-teaching staff, and learners above 18 years of age to go for their COVID-19 vaccination as vaccines become available.
Female candidates have ALSO this time round beaten their male counterparts in the just releases Uganda Certificate of Advanced Education (UACE) examinations of 2020, a quite unusual stance.
The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) Executive Secretary, Mr Daniel Odongo, noted that female candidates, although fewer performed better.
“The percentage passes at the upper levels (3P and 2P) are higher while percentage passes at lower levels and failure rate among female candidates are lower than for the males,” Odongo said.
Female candidates scored more than their male counterparts at the pricinple level pass (A-E) in Arts, Mathematics and Physics. Male candidates were better in Agriculture, Chemistry, Biology, Art and General Paper,” he further explained.
Meanwhile, the board did not register any candidates for UACE at Luzira Prison, as has been the norm in the previous years. They, however had some candidates in UCE and PLE.
A total of 98,392 candidates registered for the 2020 UACE examination from 1,952 centres compared to 104,476 candidates from 2,094 centres in 2019, a decline of 6,084 candidates.
Out of the total number of registered candidates, 97,084 actually sat for exams out of which 41,190 were female.
A total of 26,602 passed with two principle passes, 19,015 with 1 principle pass and 9,616 passed with 1 subsidiary.
796 candidates failed the exams, having not scored a single point compared to 1,433 who failed completely in 2019.
69.8% of these totaling to 68,013 qualified to join university after attaining more than two principle passes as a standard requirement by higher institutions of learning according to Mr Odongo.