More
students have qualified for entry into University and other tertiary
institutions, according to Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education-UACE
examination results.
While releasing the results this morning at the Office of the Prime Minister,
the Executive Secretary Uganda National Examinations Board-UNEB, Dan Nokrach
Odongo, noted an improvement among last year’s candidate’s compared to those of
2017.
According to the results, 63,123 candidates representing 64.7% secured 2
principal passes, which is required for university entry compared to 60,941 in
2017.
A total of 83,536 candidates scored 1 principal pass and 2 subsidiary passes
compared to 83,301 in 2017. These qualify for admission to other tertiary
institutions.
The statistics also show that 36,659 candidates attained 3 Principal passes
compared to 34,819 in 2017. The results also show that the failure rate
dropped from 99,987 candidates in 2017 to 97,328 candidates last year.
A total of 99,576 candidates registered for the 2018 UACE examination from 2,094 centers compared to 101,269 in 2017 who registered in 1,918 centers. This indicates a decrease of 1,693 candidates (1.7%).
Of the 99,576 registered candidates, 98,524 appeared for the examinations.
According to Nokrach, female candidates constituted 41,296 of those that sat
the examination and that these performed better than their male counterparts at
all levels.
He said the failure rate among female candidates is also lower at 0.8% compared
1.8% among males. Nokrach says that scenario is similar to that of 2017.
History, Economic, Entrepreneurship Education, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry
and Art were better performed last year compared to 2017, according to UNEB.
There was also improved performance in Geography.
However, there was a decline in the performance of Christian Religious
Education, Literature in English, Agriculture and Biology. Nokrach notes that
the performance in Biology has been on a downward trend of the last three
years, which he said is worrying.
Professor Mary Okwakol, the UNEB Chairperson expressed concern about the low
entries of science subjects despite the better performance by candidates in
last year’s exams compared to 2017.
She noted that only 10 percent of the total candidature registered for science
subjects and that the percentage is even less for females.
–URN
