UCE: Performance Improves, Boys Beat Girls in Most Subjects

UCE: Performance Improves, Boys Beat Girls in Most Subjects

The 2023 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) results released by the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) show an improved performance, with 95.9 percent of the candidates qualifying to join post-UCE institutions.

UNEB Executive Director Dan Odongo said the results also show that boys outperformed girls in almost all the subjects except in English Language where girls performed better than boys.

At least 361,695 candidates sat for the 2023 exams with 64,782 passing in Division One, representing 17.9 percent of those who sat. A total of 46,667 candidates obtained Division One in the UCE exams in 2022.

Another 85,566 candidates passed the 2023 exams in Division 2, representing 23.7 percent while another 83,545 candidates passed in Division Three, representing 23.1 percent.

A total of 112,923 candidates scored Division Four, representing 31.2 percent. All those who scored between Division One and Four qualified to join post-UCE institutions while 14,879 candidates, representing 4.1 percent, failed the exams.

While releasing the results yesterday, Mr Odongo said performances in the 2023 exams were significantly better than that of 2022.
“The failure rate has also dropped by 0.5 percent. This means that 329,939 (95.9 percent) of the learners who were presented for the 2023 examination can progress to the post-UCE level,” he said.

At the subject level, 3.7 percent of the candidates obtained Distinctions in English, up from 0.7 percent in 2022, while 57.6 percent obtained Credits and 89.7 percent got Passes in the English Language.

Islamic Religious Education (IRE) saw the best performance with 27.1 percent of the candidates obtaining Distinctions, followed by Christian Religious Education (CRE) with 17.2 percent obtaining Distinctions.

Mathematics also witnessed improved performance with 7.9 candidates obtaining distinctions while 1.2 percent of candidates obtained distinctions in physics.

Mr Odongo said there has been a significant improvement in English Language, Religious Education, Mathematics, and Biology, while noticeable drops were recorded in History, Agriculture, and Physics.

“Performances in the other subjects have remained comparable. In the English Language, the presentation of crammed passages from texts in response to the question on original composition writing has greatly reduced, which may explain the significant improvement in the candidate performance,” he said.

Mr Odongo also said performance in the Sciences continues to be a cause for worry, with less than 20 percent of the candidates obtaining Credit pass levels in Physics and Chemistry, and 40 percent or more unable to pass.

“It is worth noting, however, the upturn in performance in Biology, which has been recording a steady decline. Examiners have attributed the low achievement levels in Science subjects to several factors, the main among which are inadequate teaching, manifesting in the inability of the learners to master the basic scientific concepts; lack of practical teaching, manifesting in the learners’ inability to manipulate science apparatus and carry out the procedures prescribed in the examination papers and interpret any readings or observations that could have been made,” he said.

Mr Odongo said some schools have been reported to have no science teachers, which exacerbates the problem, and that most of the examination malpractice cases at this level are in the practical papers.

Gender Comparison

The 2023 exams results show that female candidates performed better than males in the English Language, while in the other subjects, males performed better. UNEB says the differences are very significant in History, Geography, the Sciences, and Commerce.

UNEB said only 3.2 percent of males passed with distinctions in English Language, compared to 4.1 females with the same grades. At Credit levels, 55.2 percent of males obtained Credit scores in English Language while 57.2 percent of females obtained the same. At the Pass level, 88.6 percent of males got Pass 7 and 8, while 89.7 percent of females scored Passes.

In the rest of the subjects, more males performed better in all grades except at Pass levels where females outnumbered their male counterparts.
“In Chemistry, however, the male candidates performed better in the higher grades but, overall, a slightly 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,” Mr Odongo said.

Summarily, 20.1 percent of males passed in Division 1 compared to 15. 8 percent of females, 24.5 percent of males who scored in Division 2 while 22.9 percent of the females scored in the same Division.

In Division Three, there were fewer males with 22.5 percent while 2.7 percent of females were in the same Division and 28.9 percent of males were in Division Four while 33.4 percent of the females obtained the same grades. In Division Nine, there were 4.0 percent males and 4.2 percent females.
Mr Odongo yesterday said overall, male candidates performed better than their female counterparts, a persistent trend that has been witnessed in recent years.

Education and Sports minister Janet Museveni said efforts should be made to address the gender disparities in completion rates and performances.
“Our society can only be holistically healthy when all boys and girls join the education system and complete the respective levels. We do not always want to have a disadvantage of one gender against the other,” he said.

In the Uganda Prisons Service, 59 candidates registered with 51 males and 8 females. UNEB, all the six candidates who passed in Division One and 14 in Division Two were males, 21 males and 3 females passed in Division Three, while 10 males and 3 females passed in Division 4 and 1 female failed.

UNEB said cases of examination malpractice have continued to reduce, with most of the cases reported in the 2023 exams being external assistance given in the examination rooms and affecting mostly Physics and Chemistry practical exams, and Mathematics.

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