By Mary Karugaba  

The 2012 Uganda Certificate of Education Examinations results have been released indicating a decline in performance compared to 2011.

According to Uganda National Examinations Board Executive Secretary Mathew Bukenya, there was a decline in both Division I and II. However, Bukenya reported a slight improvement in Division III.

Bukenya said there were no leakages and examination malpractices dropped by 30.7%.

Education and Sports minister, Jessica Alupo, released the results at Statistics House in Kampala.

Last year, 268,385 registered for the Senior Four national examinations, compared to 2011, where 273,363 registered.

  A total of 1,127 candidates have had their results withheld due to suspected examination malpractice.

Bukenya however, noted that the number of students whose results were withheld has drastically dropped compared to the previous year.

He attributed this to increased awareness, supervision and deterrent measure by the board.

“The Board will give them a hearing before action is taken. When investigations are concluded, UNEB will take them to appropriate organs for action. Some of these actions may also include withdraw of UNEB center,” he said.

The best performed subjects were: History, Math, Geography and Biology. English language was the worst performed subject.